Evita en Jazz

The work of Andrew Lloyd Webber has attracted huge Broadway audiences, but his music has never been confused with great — or even mildly sophisticated — composing. Webber's melodies and harmonies tend to be simplistic and repetitious, not much of a scaffolding for jazz players, however accomplished, to hang a CD on. Kramer acknowledges such difficulties in four pages of liner notes, adding that "most of the physical writing of the album was done (mostly out of boredom) on a long airplane flight." None of these things augurs well for a satisfying product, and in fact, this isn't. The trio, all fine players, do what they can, trying to vary the format and inject some life into the tunes, but they're working with the musical equivalent of a sow's ear: songs that go no place and say nothing en route. To be fair, it's hard to imagine that any of the classic trios in the jazz pantheon could do much with this material, either. Webber fans might welcome this release, but then they're not likely to be jazz fans and probably prefer their Evita served straight up. An unfortunate choice for inspiration, and not a good platform for these talented musicians.