Pilgrimage to Obscurity

• Artist: Vinny Golia
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1991 07
• Type: Live
• Genre: Jazz

Review

Non-conformist Vinny Golia continues to probe toward the outer limits of what a big band can do in his third Large Ensemble album, recorded live at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.. As usual, you won't find any hand-me-down Basie riffs or Kentonian ripoffs in these three lengthy compound works. You'll get big swinging passages for an overloaded ensemble; atonal, brooding, disquieting interludes and codas; lumbering mock marches; wildly stomping, avant-garde blastoffs; contemporary classical textures; even a burlesque on burlesque music ("Robusqued") -- all of which have structures and direction. Golia definitely goes his own way in titles as well, the best example being one that will convulse any baseball buff, "Ted Williams Calls the Mick and Renders Touch Sensitivity Useless." Utilizing his multi-instrumental talents to the hilt, Golia careens wildly on tenor sax in "Ted Williams," reappears evocatively on bass and C flutes on "Views," and barrels around on the rare bass sax on "The Kreikan." Mike Acosta (alto), Ralf Rickert (trumpets, flugelhorn), Eric Messerschmidt (tuba) and the classical clarinetist David Ocker also have significant solo passages from within the 18-piece ensemble. Though the album title probably gets Golia's position in the larger scheme of things sardonically right, that doesn't mean you should pass up this adventurous, highly stimulating CD. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi

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