Jazz? Opera? European Debt Crisis? Who thought up this combo?!?
Hey, it actually works pretty well over this two disc opus by Kabir Sehgal and Marie Incontrera. The “Cast” features Lucy Schaufer, David Gordon, Brandon Shook, Erik Bagger and Marnie Brekcenridge for vocals and also includes a nifty collection of jazzers in Aaron Dieh/p, Edmar Casenada/harp, Grace Kelly/sax, Manuel Valera/p, Oran Etkin/cl, Steve Liesman/g and Papo Vaquez/tb.
The music is connected by “recitatives” which are actually news reports read by Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Betty Liu, Steve Liesman and Paul Vigna, detailing the various economic trends, particularly in Greece (does that make way for a Greek Chorus?!?). The music itself ranges from actual quotes from Beethoven, Mozart and Wagner scores to original themes and motifs, with orchestra supporting the rich voices as well as horn/guitar solos. The music works amazingly well, and while listening, I tried to imagine what this might look like on stage. It must be a hoot-do we pay in Euros or Bits?