Amparo

There's Grusin - the Jazz guy. There's Grusin - the Jazz/Soundtrack guy. And there's Grusin - the Soundtrack guy. This is Grusin - the Soundtrack guy, in arranger mode. He's taken some classical themes from different periods, woven them together, and given us a beautiful album of arrangements that almost seem they could be used as various kinds of themes set against movies. His uses of Fleming, Taylor, Bell, and Botti are thoughtful, but the real star of this CD is Grusin's arrangement skills and his own playing. And he and Lee Ritenour have never sounded better together as musical partners. All of it blends together into one sentimental, romantic work of art that is one of my favorite Grusin productions.And as always, Grusin's piano, with the trademark flourishes, just sparkles.The recording quality and imaging of this effort is superb. This result is surely from Dave's experience back at GRP records, turning out some of the best early digital audiophile jazz recordings of the 1980 and 90s.Highly recommend this. Hopefully he'll do much, much more of this!

Excellent variety of selections, very well sequenced. Never get tired listening to this. Don't miss Chris Botti's unbelievably beautiful and stately trumpet in Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor. A great escape from the news of the day.

The quality of of the cd recording is poor as most of the cd's skip either parts of the song or the complete song

Dave and Lee haven’t put out any bad albums to my knowledge. This is another to prove my case😁

Just try it... check it out

I first heard these guys on a light classical station and thought their music would be great for my daughter's waiting room. She's a family councilor.

This album was a bit of an enigma for me. I couldn't figure out what the common thread joining all these pieces together is. It seemed like a strange fusion of Latin-inspired jazz and classical music from various countries and periods, with a bit of film-score sound thrown in. As such, it has a strangely unemotional feel to it, as though the performers wanted to keep their distance from the audience somewhat. Put in context, it represents a continuation of the things they were doing in the "Two Worlds" album, on which Renee Fleming also appeared. So perhaps both of them simply are two gifted musicians getting together with some friends on music they love. And that can't be a bad thing!The disc begins with a re-arrangement of Grusin's "Three Latin American Dances," a work originally recorded by violinist Arnold Steinhardt. They are good pieces and are well played here.The Faure Pavane, Op. 50 is given a wistful treatment with wordless soprano vocalize and solo violin, with guitar and piano accompaniment. Light orchestral scoring tastefully fills out the sonic space.An arrangement of Vaughan Williams's English Folk Song Suite is lush, yet reserved, with warm strings backing up the soloists. While the Pavane could be brought into the Brazilian theme, the English pastoral countryside sounds anything but Latin.From there we go deeper into England's past with an arrangement of Elizabethan composer John Ford's "Since First I Saw Your Face" featuring a vocal by James Taylor and some recorders thrown in for ambience. The instrumental arrangement gets a little too heavy for this style of music for my taste. In my opinion Taylor sounds more comfortable when he sings "Our Town," but it's nice to hear his voice on this song.Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Amparo" returns us to Brazil, beautifully played by violinist Joshua Bell.Another sharp change of pace follows with their arrangement of the "Beauty and the Beast" movement from Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. This is a very nice arrangement. Ravel's "cool" style suits Grusin and Ritenour very well, and they do a marvelous job with the arrangement and performance.The atmospheric "Echos" gives Grusin and Ritenour an opportunity for a straight piano-guitar duet.Chris Botti solos on trumpet in an arrangement of Albinoni's "Adagio." Again, nicely played. Botti's sound is simply gorgeous, but the arrangement as a whole never seems to quite take off.The duet "Scherzano sul tuo volto" from Handel's Rinaldo is a pretty straightforward arrangement that deviates little if any from the original. I am not sure why this was included, as it seems quite different in mood from the others.The information given above says there is a 12th track, "Sicilienne." This was unfortunately not included on the promotional copy that I received for review.

Amparo  is a competently crafted collection of songs that showcases good musicianship. The follow up work to their previous collaboration  Two Worlds / Grusin & Ritenour , this album is surprisingly similar and yet somehow less accessible. This release exists more as a collection of songs than as an album. It is also more ensemble focused than the first album, which felt more intimate and allowed a better appreciation of the individual parts. While it is marketed as a fusion of jazz, contemporary and classical music, it's really almost a complete album of modern classical.To put it bluntly, the first time I listened to this album I was disappointed. After another 5 listens, it has gradually grown on me and I've started to appreciate this for what it is rather than what it isn't. It's not perfect but this is a quality recording that will satisfy certain types of listeners. If you come to this as a jazz fan, you will have to approach this recording with a very open mind.There are many criticisms that can be heaped on this album, though for me most of them stem from the way it was marketed and how that changed my expectations. In addition, there is a certain shapeless quality to it and a mystery about how the tracks were ordered. This is an album where I could definitely see 5 star and 1 star reviews making equally valid points. You are either going to love or hate this one I fear.The album would have definitely been better had the songs been arranged and ordered for continuity. Instead even though there are many good tracks here, none of them really leads into the next or previous tracks too well. Dave Grusin plays wonderfully and did most of the arrangements, and he is joined by the famous Lee Ritenour who takes a back seat on most tracks. James Taylor, Joshua Bell, Renee Fleming, and Chris Botti also contribute on certain tracks. The big name musicians will certainly draw attention and sell records, but they will also lead to heightened expectations.The first track sounds like a dramatic danzon. The second track starts nicely enough, but is split by orchestral string sections that are, in my opinion, unnecessary. For me, the album didn't really qualify as "easy listening" because of the violent and loud tempo changes on tracks like 1 and 2.Track 3 is really impressive. It seems to provide more of the blend of musical power and fluidity that they were going for with this album. Track 4, Faure's "Pavane", features Renee Fleming's operatic chanting, but it did make me start to wonder what the theme of this album is. Track 6 starts off like a renaissance fair tune, and James Taylor's voice is used in a very understated way. Track 9 is my personal favorite on this album, a simple structured piano centric tune. And track 10 is definitely a high point of the recording.While I can totally see how some might call this music "safe," after listening closely a few more times I have discovered some very interesting and complex sections to some of these tracks. Granted, some of the tracks are still forgettable. But it is definitely an acquired taste that will grow on you if you give it some time.Check this out and hopefully this album will win you over.Enjoy.

J'avais été moyennement emballé par l'escapade dans la musique classique que nous avaient proposé ces 2 grands musiciens dans Two worlds. Dans cet Amparo, on est toujours dans la musique classique (morceaux de Fauré, Albinoni, Ravel, Handel) mais avec des accents latins et je suis bien plus convaincu: Three latin american dances signées Dave Grusin, une reprise de Jobim. Les arrangements de l'orchestre sont très réussis et on se laisse embarquer, la promenade est bien agréable. Quant aux voix, elles sont assurées par la grande cantatrice Renée Fleming (déjà présente sur Two Worlds) et James Taylor, très à l'aise sur Since First I saw your face. Côté musiciens, Chris Botti à la trompette et Joshua Bell au violon complètent ce beau tableau. Décidément ces vieux complices que sont Grusin et Ritenour ont encore pas mal de surprises à nous révéler et c'est tant mieux! On est loin du jazz fusion mais c'est bon!

Cd veramente bello,artisticamente e come incisione. La bravura di Grusin e Ritenour non si discutee non si scopre adesso. Un disco da possedere, anche per i non amanti del genere.Consegna veloce.

Eine tolle CD, die trotz Crossover sehr geschmackvoll produziert ist.In der AMAZON Beschreibung gibt es eine Liste, aus der hervorgeht, dass die Produktion zwei CDs beinhaltet. Das muss wohl ein Fehler sein. Leider gibt es nur eine CD, die aber sehr schön ist, durchaus auch mal beim stilvollen Festessen nebenher laufen kann, aber auch musikalisch überzeugt, weil es einfach gut arrangiert und eingespielt wurde.

ピアノ・アコギ・ストリングス・・・と全体的に弦楽器色が強く、ジャケットの色彩と曲の雰囲気がマッチしています。冒頭のデイブ･グルーシン作曲の３つの組曲はグルーシンらしく上品かつ洗練されて素晴らしい。４曲目以降はクラシカルな曲のアレンジですが、人によってはクラシックでもポップでもない、どこか中途半端な印象を受けるかも知れません。しかし、終始ストリングスのアレンジが冴え渡っており、演奏の呼吸がとても合っていて気持ち良いです。個人的には、ラストのAdagio in G minorのクリス･ボッティのトランペットが素晴らしいです。残念ながらリー･リトナーが終始控え目な印象を受けます。合作なので、もう少しギターにスポットが当っても良い気もします。とにかくグルーシンのファンの方なら冒頭の３曲だけでも買いだと思います。