''Swingrass '83'' is a 1983 swing/ prog-bluegrass album featuring

Andy Statman Andrew Edward Statman (born 1950) is a noted American klezmer clarinetist and bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist. Life and career Statman was born in New York City and grew up in the borough of Queens. Beginning at age 12, he learned to play banj ...

Richard Greene Richard Marius Joseph Greene (25 August 1918 – 1 June 1985) was a noted English film and television actor. A matinée idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series ...

, Marty Krystall,

Peter Ivers Peter Scott Ivers (born Peter Scott Rose, September 20, 1946 – March 3, 1983) was an American musician, singer, songwriter and television personality. He served as host of the experimental music television show '' New Wave Theatre''. Despite ...

Fred Tackett Fredrick O. Tackett (born August 30, 1945) is an American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Originally a session player on guitar, mandolin, and trumpet, he is best known as a member of the band Little Feat. In addition to his work with Li ...

Peter Erskine Peter Clark Erskine (born June 5, 1954) is an American jazz drummer who was a member of the jazz fusion groups Weather Report and Steps Ahead. Early life and education Erskine was born in Somers Point, New Jersey, U.S. He began playing the d ...

and

Buell Neidlinger Buell Neidlinger (March 2, 1936 – March 16, 2018) was an American cellist and double bassist. He has worked with a variety of pop and jazz performers, prominently with iconoclastic pianist Cecil Taylor in the 1950s and '60s. Biography Neidling ...

. The same musicians, minus Fred Tackett, had previously recorded an album under the name Buellgrass (''Big Day At Ojai'', also released in 1983, reissued on CD in 1996 under the title ''Across The Tracks''). The album consists of renditions of three songs apiece by

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

and

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

, plus a couple of group originals. Allmusic review/ref> Not yet issued on CD, the album was originally issued in 1983 on Antilles Records and reissued in 1990 on

Mango Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

Track listing

#"Mainstem" (

) #"Subtle Sleuth" (Ellington) #" Sophisticated Lady" (Ellington) #"Skippy" (

) #"Bllue Buell" (

) #"Little Rootie Tootie" (Monk) #"Friday The 13th" (Monk) #"Alpha Centauri" (

)

Reception

The album has been well received by music critics.

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

said that the "unusual mixture of players" delivered "a memorable set".

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' called the album the "left-field instrumental of the year".

Releases

*Antilles Records - 1983 LP *Mango Records- 1990 LP

References

External links

Discogs entry
{{Authority control 1983 albums Progressive bluegrass albums Antilles Records albums Mango Records albums Experimental music albums Folk jazz albums Jazz fusion albums