Nguyên Lê/Michael Gibbs/NDR Bigband: Celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon

Celebrating The Dark Side of the Moon
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Artist: Nguyên Lê/Michael Gibbs/NDR Bigband
Genre: Jazz
Label: ACT

Although intrepid French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê’s name appears at the top of the album, this “reimagining” of Pink Floyd’s 1973 monolith is the work of many hands, starting with a glint in the eyes of ACT label founder Siggi Loch and producers Stefan Gerdes and Axel Dürr of the NDR Big Band.

Their first move was to secure the services of much-respected British arranger Mike Gibbs, whose orchestrations add layers of harmonic richness whilst retaining the essence of the source material.

With one of the finest big bands in contemporary jazz and a powerhouse rhythm section of drummer Gary Husband and bassist Jürgen Attig at his back, Lê’s scorching guitar work is the icing on a mouthwatering cake.

Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a musician, writer and director