Benny Carter/Dizzy Gillespie/Quincy Jones

June 20 - June 27, 1 9 9 6
[Off the Record]

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**1/2 Benny Carter/Dizzy Gillespie/Quincy Jones

JOURNEY TO NEXT

(Lightyear Entertainment)

These previously unreleased soundtracks to pieces by the legendary animators John and Faith Hubley stand as curiosities when divorced from the images they were meant to accompany. At times, what you get is simply slick movie music -- even if the solos are perfectly framed (as in the guitar/flute/trumpet sequence from Benny Carter's 1985 "The Cosmic Eye" or Dizzy's trumpet work in his "Voyage to Next Suite"). Not even Lionel Hampton's pointed, swinging vibes on Carter's "Adventures of An" can be saved from the endless reprise of the theme; it's like a series of alternate takes.

Jones's whimsical "Of Men and Demons" nearly gets you to imagine the Hubleys' film with its vocalise and other sound effects. But the real gem here is Carter's 10-minute "Harlem Wednesday," a tone poem in which the arrangement unfolds with sure narrative logic -- trumpet solo (Taft Jordan) to reeds to brass. It's all bathed in a romantic glow. If it reminds you of Ellington, well, that's how good it is. (Both the CD and the films from which it was drawn, on video, are available from Lightyear Entertainment; call 800-229-7867.)

-- Jon Garelick