Daniel Kobialka - Porgy And Bess: Rendered By Daniel Kobialka (2017)

PORGY AND BESS rendered by Daniel Kobialka While there is a great deal of history to Porgy and Bess, the music on this wonderful new recording of 15 songs from this folk opera casts new light on the timeless melodies in fresh and inventive ways. Each of the songs is performed in the same order in which it appears in the opera and features Daniel Kobialka, a classically trained violinist whose catalog includes Jazz, New Age, Spacial, and Classical albums. Kobialka's musical achievements include holding the position of Principal Second Violinist with the San Francisco Symphony orchestra during 1975-2008, performing with the Boston Symphony and the Atlanta Symphony, playing at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan, and serving as Concert Master for Leonard Bernstein's MASS at the opening of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. He has also performed at a countless number of concerts all over the world. While he is a superb classical violinist it has been his passion for some time to produce his own musical interpretations of these Gershwin melodies. The arrangement of this album, produced by James Scott Balentine, has provided Kobialka an opportunity to help revive the violin as an authentic voice of the blues. In turn, it provides Balentine with an opportunity to make these very familiar pieces sound new and mysterious. Recorded in Kobialka's studio, the album also includes James Scott Balentine, on Saxophone and Clarinet, Martha Conwell Long, Flute and Bass Flute, Jennifer Berg, English Horn, Mason Macias, Percussion, and the Koblsai Soundings Ensemble. The album's liner notes by Scott Yanow, author of ten books including The Jazz Singers, Swing, Jazz On Film and Jazz on Record 1917-76, set the stage for the album with an historical summary of the opera and descriptions of the moody and atmospheric arrangements that blend classical music with bits of jazz.

Tracklist:

01. Daniel Kobialka - Jasbo Brown Blues
02. Daniel Kobialka - Summertime
03. Daniel Kobialka - A Woman is a Sometime Thing
04. Daniel Kobialka - My Man's Gone Now
05. Daniel Kobialka - It Take A Long Pull To Get There
06. Daniel Kobialka - I Got Plenty O' Nuttin
07. Daniel Kobialka - Bess, You Is My Woman Now
08. Daniel Kobialka - It Ain't Necessarily So
09. Daniel Kobialka - What You Want Wid Bess
10. Daniel Kobialka - Oh, Doctor Jesus
11. Daniel Kobialka - I Loves You, Porgy
12. Daniel Kobialka - There's a Boat That's Leaving Soon for New York
13. Daniel Kobialka - A Red Headed Woman
14. Daniel Kobialka - Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess'
15. Daniel Kobialka - Oh Lawd, I'm On My Way