Editorial Reviews

Opera buffs will find many of their favorite themes here, deconstructed and recast to fit an ambient groove or cool symphonic jazz format. Album conceptualist Alan Douglas and producer/bass-meister Bill Laswell are just a couple of the diverse talents who lend their hands to this futuristic overhaul. Vibraphonist and world-jazz pioneer Karl Berger plays keyboards and fashions the string and horn arrangements, joined by such jazzmen as Graham Haynes (cornet, flugelhorn) and Byard Lancaster (tenor sax). The album opens with "Una Furtiva Lagrima" from Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore," backed by the patter of a tabla beat; Haynes's horn carries a lonely, empathetic melodic improvisation here, while the Material Strings swirl all around him. The latter provide an inky emotional undercurrent to the "Love Theme" from Verdi's La Traviata as the horns seem to reach out for each other through the dark. The strings also carry the famous tenor aria "Nessun Dorma" from Verdi's Turandot, with a coolly impatient, feathery drum riff keeping the energy edgy as Lancaster's saxophone further ponders the dilemma. The volatile, windy overture from La Forza del Destino sets you on the edge of your seat as Haynes explores its minor key moods at length. Boasting themes so familiar and transformations so unique, Operazone is, at the very least, intriguing and beautiful in its own decadent way. Carol Wright, Barnes & Noble

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