$8.99

Sold by music on Tradebit
The world's largest download marketplace
3,247,664 satisfied buyers
Shopper Award

MP3 Bill McBirnie (Featuring Mark Eisenman) - Nature Boy

A straight-ahead acoustic jazz flute-and-rhythm-section format that really swings.

11 MP3 Songs in this album (63:53) !
Related styles: JAZZ: Bebop, BLUES: Jazzy Blues

People who are interested in John Coltrane Cannonball Adderley Hubert Laws should consider this download.


Details:
Biography

Bill McBirnie is a jazz and Latin flute specialist from Canada. He has studied with distinguished Canadian flutist and composer, Robert Aitken, as well as Cuban charanga legend, Richard Egues. Bill is known for his superior technique on the entire family of flutes (from bass flute to piccolo). He is also recognized as an accomplished improviser, notably in the bebop, swing and Latin idioms as illustrated by his recordings as a sideman with Junior Mance, Irakere, Memo Acevedo and Michele Mele. He has already produced two Extreme Flute projects of his own (namely, "Desvio" and "Scratch It!") and, most recently, a straight-ahead acoustic jazz recording under his own name featuring The Mark Eisenman Trio entitled, "Nature Boy". Bill has been chosen Flutist of the Year by the Jazz Report Awards and a winner of the U.S.A. National Flute Association''s triennial Jazz Flute Masterclass Competition.

Following are just two reviews of "Nature Boy" (which has been spun on Bob Parlocha''s syndicated jazz show and was voted number 4 in JazzFM91''s Top 40 Jazz Albums for 2003).


The Whole Note Magazine, Discoveries - May 5, 2003
INDIE LIST
Independent and Small Label Releases

Nature Boy
Bill McBirnie
Extreme Flute EF03

Nature Boy is a welcome addition to my collection. Flutist McBirnie is just that: a Flutist, not a saxophone player doubling on the instrument. You can tell from the full-bodied tones on the opening track that this is a guy who has serious flute chops. McBirnie''s accompanists on this recording are no slouches either - the Mark Eisenman Trio is one of the hardest swinging groups I''ve ever heard, live or on record.

Recorded in two sessions, straight to tape with no overdubs and few takes, Nature Boy gives listeners an honest portrayal of the musicians'' skills and imparts an energy that''s lacking on many jazz recordings these days.

McBirnie''s selection of tunes would appear at first to be somewhat quirky: the opener is What A Friend We Have In Jesus. The performance here though is full of the warmth and gospel feel that this tune so often lacks. The eleven selections include tunes by Thelonious Monk (Monk''s Dream and Bye Ya), John Coltrane (Lazy Bird) and Lester Young (Blue Lester). My personal favourite on the recording is the wonderfully languid, stretched-out version of Poinciana.

I highly recommend this recording; the music is joyous and energetic throughout. I''m just itching to play it for some classical flutists I know. I can''t wait to see the expressions on their faces when they hear Bill practically turn the flute inside out on Teaneck.

Merlin Williams


Planet Jazz, The International Jazz Review
Volume 7, Summer/Fall 2003
Reviewed by Paul Serralheiro

Bill McBirnie''s Nature Boy is an intriguing kettle of fish. It is very clean, articulate bebop. Very clean. Doesn''t a charming paradox lie therein?

As a kind of protective "baptism" against the "evil" music to come, the CD opens with a faithful rendition of "What A Friend We Have In Jesus". But it quickly takes a very energetic plunge into the essence of bebop-which can perhaps be described as "drive"-a combination of unrestrained forward motion and imagination. McBirnie displays both on an instrument not frequently found fulfilling a bebop function-and he does so with a rare purity of sound. He can also cradle a ballad quite gently, as evidenced on the reflective "Poinciana" and "Beatrice".

If Nature Boy''s wide-ranging tunes (we go from church hymns to Lester Young to Sam Rivers) could be said to have a theme, it may be found in the message expressed in the lyrics of the title song that closes the disc and which lyrics are prominently placed in the liner notes: "The greatest thing you''ll ever learn / Is just to love / And be loved in return." That is the idea that opens and closes the CD while in-between McBirnie-along with Mark Eisenman on piano, Steve Wallace on bass and John Sumner on drums-swing back and forth from the peace of the church to the burning spirit of after-hours sessions of bebop-which is, after all, just another kind of religion.

File Data

This file is sold by music, an independent seller on Tradebit.

Our Reviews
© Tradebit 2004-2024
All files are property of their respective owners
Questions about this file? Contact music
DMCA/Copyright or marketplace issues? Contact Tradebit