Jim Snidero

[mikeb]

Anyone picked up his latest, "Strings", on Milestone?

Impressions?

[mikeb]

Guess I will find out for myself, as I have apparently won a copy from Fantasy ...

[kenny weir]

Good deal! Have you heard his Joe Henderson album?

[John Tapscott]

Snidero's Joe Henderson CD is great. Highly recommended. The only downside is that it's a bit short. They could easily have included a couple more great Henderson tunes. But what's there is terrific.

[mikeb]

Kenny, I have not, but thanks for the recommendation (John, too)! I'll pick it up ...

Edited March 16, 2003 by mikeb

[mikeb]

FINALLY got around to listening to this this morning. Initial impressions: Snidero reminds me (on this session, anyway) of Sonny Stitt w/out the flash. Which is not a bad thing, mind you. The strings don't blend quite as well as some other sessions I've heard. Billy Drummond doesn't get to do much. Renee Rosnes is OK, I've heard her sound better. Most tunes are pretty sleepy. "River Suite" is interesting (some nice flute work from Snidero), and "Forever Gone" has a subtle funkiness to it, but nothing else grabbed me on first listen. I will definitely explore this disc again, but initially, I have to say I'm glad I didn't spend $15+ on it!

[Joe M]

I think Jim would have been better off if he had a more experienced arranger write the charts for the strings. They sound kind of dated, though it's still a nice session, but not great. A good album to compare it to is Stefano DiBattista's new cd on Blue Note, Round About Roma. I'd put both Stefano and Jim on about the same par as players, good players, not on the level of Kenny Garrett or Jackie Mac, but good regardless. Well, Vince Mendoza did the charts for Stefano's cd, and they're wonderful (and I'm not always a big Mendoza fan). They integrate very well with the quartet and the original compositions. By comparisions Snidero's charts just seem to be lacking something.