Product Description

Wong Fei-Hong Meets Little Strudel by Edward Ratliff

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Once you get past the astonishing title to Edward Ratliff's Rhapsodalia's debut, prepare to be astonished anew at the music. For one, Ratliff plays a veritable arsenal of instruments: cornet, trumpet, euphonium, trombone, and accordion. Never mind how hard it is for a trumpeter to play trombone, Ratliff leaps in with violinist Sam Bardfield, saxist Michaël Attias, bassist John Hebert, and drummer phenom Kevin Norton. They kick up a heat that John Lurie's Lounge Lizards fans will love. The music is big, bright, and expansive. Ratliff's named the album in honor of the Honk Kong film industry, and while only the title track is Asian in derivation, the album has a globetrotting feel to it. The rhythms are precise and uptempo, with the violin offering tango flavoring, and Ratliff's and Attias's horns roughing the edges so that Wong Fei-Hong sounds like an eager hard bop album from '66 passed through a kaleidoscope. --Andrew Bartlett