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Quincy Jones - Walking in Space Audio CD

A fair review of the Quincy Jones "Walking in Space" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Quincy Jones reviews here, or go back to the Quincy Jones tabs.

Quincy Jones Band: Quincy Jones
Title: Walking in Space
Rating:
Release Date: 2000-04-18
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Dead End 2: Walking In Space 3: Killer Joe 4: Love And Peace 5: I Never Told You 6: Oh Happy Day

Get it for the title song.
The song "Walking in Space" is a 12-minute tour de force, where the all-star orchestra delivers a succession of swinging solos which shake loose the glossy trappings of Quincy Jones's arrangement. I had this record on vinyl years ago, and I bought the CD, principally to get the title song which can only be had by getting the CD. The knockout punch is delivered by Rahsaan Roland Kirk who weighs in with a heroic, careening, manic blow that almost knocks the band off the stand. The rest of the album doesn't wear so well in the test of time. "Killer Joe" still resonates, but the rest of the songs feel languid and dated. The worst is "Oh Happy Day", which at the time, was a top-10 hit by the Edwin Hawkins singers. Removing the gospel lyrics may have seemed the right secular thing to do at the time, but in retrospect the song seems robbed of its spirit and comes off as the worst of bad muzak posing as jazz.


classic
These were jazz scores, and created a symphonic big band blues that was fat and lucious. Quincy Jones had been composing soundtracks for years when this album came out in 1969.

He takes the same ideas and applies them, here, to the title track, and other standards such as "Dead End" and "Killer Joe. "

The arrangements here are big and spacious, with plenty of top calabre soloing by some of the best jazz pros available at the time. Jones litterally transforms his chosen materal from rock and soundtrack pieces to amazing jazz vehicles. This is pretty conventinal big band jazz, but Jones' selection and arrangements are so big, yet so fluid, the music is rich and grand. He has always been a master at tone color and texture, and this is exploited to the hilt on Walking In Space.

The audio here has a eccho, as if you are listening to a big band in a theatre or dancehall. During a solo, the other horns are always mixed back, so you actually get the depth of a big soundstage. This lends itself perfectly to the nuance Quincy so beatifully creates.

On a good stereo, you can litterally hear the instruments reverberating off your walls. (Audiophiles dream of albums like this, and if you are into tubes and have a big listening space, you have to buy this for the sound quality alone. ) Great musicians don't do anything by chance on records, and on Walking In Space, the master has executed his plan perfectly. .


Quincy Jones' Walking In Space
My only lament is that it is not digitally remastered to bring out all of the great nuances of a great album. Great album/CD, one of his best! Great retro jazz sound.


Yep, A Jazz Essential
This may not be a jazz classic to some jazz 'purists', and I understand that. 'Q' had been a big band jazz composer/conductor/arranger for years for many other bands when he recorded this now-classic album. I HATE so-called 'smooth jazz', and this IS NOT 'smooth jazz'. Ok, just to make that clear. Soul/Funk and Jazz fusion was big in the 60's and 70's, and here is a great example of some of the best jazz musicians of the time playing for Quincy Jones. I personally think that the version of Benny Golson's 'Killer Joe' on 'Walking In Space' is THE classic version of this now often recorded standard.

Don't dismiss this great album. Give it a go in your CD player or mp3 player.


The best of Quincy Jones
This album has "Killer Joe" and "Oh Happy Day". Quincy Jones is a genius. It has become a classic, better than most of what is being recorded now.


You can see a complete list of all Quincy Jones discography, or go back to the Quincy Jones tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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