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Artist: Orbert Davis
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Orbert Davis:

Sketches Of Spain

The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, celebrating its upcoming tenth anniversary year, releases its second full-length album, Sketches Of Spain [Revisited], an orchestral transformation of the 1960 iconic original by Miles Davis and Gil Evans. For this reinterpretation of the 1960 classic recording, CJP artistic director and composer Orbert Davis created two new compositions, incorporated traditional African and Middle Eastern instruments, and made numerous modifications in ensemble orchestration.  The result is an intimate yet powerful performance that transports the listener to a different world.

"If you're going to reconceptualize a work as iconic as Sketches Of Spain – daring to change the original instrumentation, and even to replace some movements with new compositions – you'd better do one spectacular job of it. Orbert Davis has dared, and succeeded."  Neil Tesser, Grammy-Award Winning Jazz Journalist Davis' involvement with Sketches Of Spain began in the 1990's when, as a trumpeter in Bill Russo's Chicago Jazz Ensemble, he was asked to perform the solo trumpet part originally played by Miles Davis (no relation). A particular challenge was to disregard the expectations of some purists that the original performance would be re-created.  "However," Orbert notes, "What Miles played is not intended to be duplicated. Miles reached past the technical aspects of his instrument and played from the depths of his soul.  I took that approach to freely create during the improvised sections."