sonicnet.com June 5, 2000
Operazone: The Redesign, Bill Laswell (Knitting Factory Records)
Opera With A Beat
By Bill Shoemaker
The usual problem with concept albums is that the concept is more interesting than the results. Operazone: The Redesign is quite the opposite - it's a seemingly stupid idea that yields an intriguing album.
The notion of deconstructing well-known overtures, arias and orchestral passages from the operas of Puccini, Verdi and others, adding jazz soloists and ethnic beats, would probably make most opera buffs gag. After all, arias like Donizetti's "Una Furtiva Lagrina" (RealAudio excerpt) and Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" (RealAudio excerpt) are sacred cows.
Karl Berger's strings and horn arrangements ooze a coolness that is haunting and sensuous. But, producer/instrumentalist Bill Laswell pulls it off. Much credit has to go to Karl Berger, whose strings and horn arrangements ooze a coolness that is haunting and sensuous. The evocation of Miles Davis in Graham Haynes' slightly dry cornet solos are central to the dynamic tension of Berger's writing. The strings and horns trigger associations with the Gil Evans collaborations with Davis, while the percussion and the synthlike string colors achieved through Robert Musso's deft postmodern engineering suggest Davis' latter years. The Davis tip is not surprising, as Laswell has recently remixed many of the trumpet legend's performances.
Occasionally, the exquisite tension in Berger's writing for strings also recalls saxophonist Gato Barbieri's score for "Last Tango in Paris." Berger, a master vibes and marimba player, teamed with the Argentine tenor player in the late trumpeter Don Cherry's mid-'60s bands. But rather than have a wailing Barbieri clone, Laswell enlisted tenor saxophonist Byard Lancaster, a legendary saxophonist whose discography includes '60s underground classics on the ESP and BYG labels. Lancaster delivers stentorian performances.
These "constructions," as Laswell calls them, do not disfigure the essences of the source materials. Verdi's "La Forza del Destino" Overture (RealAudio excerpt) is still Verdi, regardless of signal processing sheen or an undercoating of tabla cross-rhythms.
What Operazone accomplishes is turning classics of the European canon into soundtracks for an endless night.