Marty Ehrlich

[king ubu]

This came out last year on German label enja. Recorded in April 2002, it's a large-scale work featuring some extremely fine playing and good writing.

Personnel includes Bobby Previte, Pheroan Aklaff and Michael Sarin on drums, Mark Helias and Mark Dresser on bass, Wayne Horvitz on piano, Eddie Allen and James Zollar on trumpet, John Clark on french horn, Ray Anderson and Clark Gayton on trombone, Marcus Rojas on tuba, Mark Feldman on violin, Erik Friedlander on cello and many more.

I gave it a spin yesterday, for the very first time, and I have to spread word about this!

The following comes from the enja records website (http://www.enjarecords.com/Cat-frame2.htm

Now Ehrlich comes up with his "opus magnum", "The Long View", that features him and his music along with his finest colleagues in various ensemble sizes including duet, quartet, septet and a 14-piece "big band." The complete work was composed for a collaboration with the painter Oliver Jackson and also works in interaction with his paintings in exhibition. An inspiration to Ehrlich's music for decades, Oliver Jackson's visual art has also been featured on earlier CD cover sleeves. Commissioned by the Harvard University Art Museum, Ehrlich conceived "The Long View" utilizing a saxophone sextet, a brass quintet, a string ensemble and varied small groups. "I began working backwards and forwards in composing the musical images, much as I had observed Oliver paint," says Ehrlich. "The Long View" proves to be a marvellous musical manifesto - giving the artistic essence of Ehrlich's three decades of musical adventure and a creative balance of the New York Downtown musicians' community. A stroke of luck and genius.

I don't know if this has been released in the US, however it's well worth looking for!

ubu