Bob Curnow's L.A. Big Band: Minuano (Six Eight)

Bob Curnow's arrangements of Pat Metheny's music for big band are a delight to hear, and the 1994 recording The Music of Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays by Curnow's L.A. Big Band is one of the neglected gems of the rapidly growing 'tribute jazz' category. By drawing on this sometimes idiosyncratic repertoire, Curnow cuts through the clichés of the big band vocabulary, and delivers a series of fresh and invigorating performances. This version of "Minuano" works like a charm, and Curnow even finds a way of adapting the heavily synthesized minimalist interlude in the original Metheny recording that other cover artists (see here and here) haven't dared to tackle. I wish we heard more often from Mr. Curnow, but with this CD he gave us a mini-masterpiece.