Live Through The Years
by John Sunier - Audiophile Audition
This CD is from a sax quartet based in Austin Texas. As with many other burgeoning
sax quartets around the world, their program ranges from Bach to Bop and consists of
mainly shorter pieces. The group was founded in 1990 and has played throughout the
U.S. in many different venues. The CD is a compilation of what they feel is the peak of
their live performance recordings made over the space of a decade. This is a brave
endeavor technically because the recordings existed on a mix of reel tape, cassettes,
DATs and CD-Rs. Mastering engineer Andy Murphy did a yeoman job bringing them all together - interesting that the abbreviation for the label name is EQ! The fact is one can only tell with headphones the higher hiss level on a few tracks. These are good recordings of some great playing, and their audiences obviously loved it.
The 23 tracks are: BACH: Prelude from Partita No. 3, ROMERO: Choro y tango, IBANEZ: Triguenita, GONZAGA: Gaucho, COREA: Spain, WILLIAMS: That’s a Plenty, GERSHWIN: Porgy & Bess selections, Salute to Glenn Miller, Just for Show, BERNSTEIN: Prologue to West Side Story, EVANS: Waltz for Debbie, AYOUB: Jazz Suite, PHIL WOODS: Three Improvisations, MANCINI: The Pink Panther, Poison Ivy, My Girl, Goodnight Sweetheart, Broadway Romance, BACH: Sarabande from Second English Suite.
Elision Saxophone Quartet
Critical Acclaim
American Record Guide - "...they play with an ease and fluidity that would be the envy of many a saxophone quartet..."
San Antonio Express News- “The Elision Saxophone Quartet stole the show . . .”
Austin American Statesmen - “Stellar and Eclectic lineup promised for Austin Chamber Music Marathon”
Commmunique - KUT 90.5 FM Public Radio - “A Class Act . . .”
John Aielee - Host of Eclecticos - KUT 90.5 FM Public Radio - “Delightful . . . really exciting . . . a big hit . . . you have four voices, yet you create the whole texture of the orchestral palette . . . they play so beautifully . . . these people are really good . . .”
The Austin Chronicle - “. . . ESQ has a tune for everyone.”
San Antonio Light - “. . . their music really impressed the crowd.”
Robert E. Lee Newsletter - “We could have listened all day . . . the audience loved it!”
KMFA 89.5 FM - “This group (ESQ) has good credentials and is seasoned enough to play popular or classical. Personally I would drive a hundred miles to hear them play.”
Randy Harriman - KMFA - 89.5 FM - “It’s a great sound and great music . . . reminds you of the Big Band Days . . . brings a tear to the eye . . .”
Jewish Community Association of Austin - “I don’t know how much better we can get than these guys.”
Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet
Critical Acclaim
Los Angeles Times - “Their playing is subtle, refined and restrained, or abandoned, jazzy and swinging. The Golden Age of Saxophone was entertaining, superbly played, and packaged with flair.”
Pasadena Star News - “Fascinating, thoroughly entertaining evening. One of the most enjoyable concerts of the current season.”
The Californian - “Extraordinary and special.”
Lamar Daily News - “Special virtuosity of each musician came through sweet and pure. These men have the right stuff.”
The Morganton News Herald - “Warmly applauded. The quartet is one of the new breed of professional ensembles touring the United States which seeks to entertain the audience as much as to enrich and enlighten.”
Vernon Daily News - “This wonderful blending of tone quality, combines with flawless intonation and technical security are the foundation for delightful chamber music. The Vernon audience responded enthusiastically to warm stage personalities of the four virtuoso musicians.”
The Tribune (San Luis Obispo) - “To a number of hard-core, highbrow music lovers, the saxophone is one of the pariahs of the symphony, with its jazzy past and its capabilities for emotional ranges of expression that defy notation. So, what do you have when you get together four such pariahs in an unabashedly juicy quartet? If you’re lucky, you have the Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet. Darn lucky. They received a standing ovation which was well deserved.”
The Mendocino Beacon - “The enthusiasm of the audience was unmistakable. Left the audience literally floating on waves of euphoria.”
The Daily Sentinel - “Instrumentation was pure and crisp – versatility is nearly unlimited, breathtaking literally as well as figuratively.”
The Bakersfield Californian - “Beautifully executed – dreamy, buoyant, and nostalgic – one of the concert series best offerings in ages.”
The Pioneer Times - “Reeds, like strings, blend in quality not unlike some human voices. The results expressed by such artists brought thrills, tears, tension. And foot tapping in the audience.”
Cape Cod Times - “Delightful entertainment from first-class musicians. The four gave a superb and wide-ranging performance, exhibiting a breadth of musical variety from classical Bach pieces to Scott Joplin rags and Glenn Miller tunes. The quartet rendered all the selections with concentration and seemingly effortless grace. The program featured something for everyone’s taste. Members of the audience could be heard humming and toe-tapping in time to the music.”
New York Concert Review, Inc.
by Anthony Aibel
The Elision Saxophone Quartet
Merkin Concert Hall
April 22, 2007
The Elision Saxophone Quartet, founded in
1990 by soprano and alto saxophonist Todd
Oxford and by tenor saxophonist and arranger
Robert Medina, came to New York recently
and made an impression not only for their
unique blend of sound, but for the extreme
high level of their playing. They play with
sumptuous, lush tones and with a flair that
doesn’t sacrifice integrity or fine intonation.
The quartet, comprised of Todd Oxford, soprano and alto saxophones; Colin Mason, alto; Robert Medina, tenor; and Billy McPhail on baritone, opened with Bach’s lovely Prelude from his Partita No. 3 in an arrangement by Charlton. The quartet played it with solemnity, immediately erasing any pre-determined notion that the saxophone is just a jazz or pop instrument.
There was a huge diversity of styles on the program. Muller/D’Riviera/Piazzola’s Tribute to the Tango had many moments that displayed the soloistic qualities of each individual. The second movement: Adios Nonino stood out for its tenderness in solos by Oxford. Bernstein’s Prologue from West Side Story, in an effective, fun arrangement by Seldon, was played with unending vigor and appeal. Heckendorn’s extremely well-written Soliloquy and Dance Set at Roseland from his Mix from Six Scenes painted two contrasting pictures: first a dreamy, nostalgic landscape, and then a richly scored, Latin-flavored fiesta with a rich Baritone solo at its center. The players and audience enjoyed Heckendorn’s excellent work.
The wide exploration of styles continued with Curtis’ A Klezmer Wedding and then with Khatchaturian’s Lezghinka from Gayne Ballet and Bach’s touching Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, arranged with finesse and taste by Robert Medina. In the Bach, the ensemble showed more depth of dynamic in their playing. Woods’ Deer Head Sketches (they played the first movement: The Front Porch) had lovely moments, and the Chinese Folk Songs (arr. Medina) plus Whitlock’s Celtic Suite kept showing us that these players perform any style and any composer with natural ease.
They recently toured the People’s Republic of China, the Texas Commission on the Arts Touring Arts Conference, performed at the University of Tennessee, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University, The Carver Community Cultural Center, the Jewish Community Center of Austin, the Arts Council of Eagle Pass, the Entertainment Series of Irving, the Texas Jazz Festival, and the Texas Folklife Festival. It was unfortunate that there were as few as about 30 people in attendance at Merkin Hall; Texas knows about Elision and now New York needs to know.