1 	Hallelujah From "The Messiah" 	5:18
2 	Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring 	8:38
3 	Overture Miniature From "The Nutcracker" 	6:26
4 	March From "The Nutcracker" 	4:47
5 	Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy From "The Nutcracker" 	6:52
6 	Russian Dance Trepack From "The Nutcracker" 	5:57
7 	Dance Of The Reeds From "The Nutcracker" 	6:51
8 	Waltz Of The Flowers From "The Nutcracker" 	7:23

Bass – Ron Carter
Drums – Lewis Nash
Piano – Kenny Barron
Vibraphone, Marimba – Stefon Harris 

The Classical Jazz Quartet recorded a series of sessions utilizing Bob Belden's arrangements of classical music, though this session draws primarily from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. The cast of musicians, including pianist Kenny Barron, vibraphonist and marimba player Stefon Harris, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Lewis Nash, is never less than impressive, though the album production and, occasionally, Belden's charts don't always serve their considerable talent. Handel's famous Hallelujah from The Messiah is a promising start, though it is strangely and suddenly truncated by a rapid fadeout just over the five-minute mark. Better is the extended workout of J.S. Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, which gives the musicians a chance to stretch out. The remainder of the album is devoted to music from The Nutcracker Suite, which duplicates the music heard on The Classical Jazz Quartet Play Tchaikovsky, meaning that those already owning that CD aren't likely to purchase this release for just two new tracks. "The Swingin' Nut" (Overture Miniature) is a bluesy chart that gets stuck in a boring vamp instead of developing upon its famous theme as a source for improvisation. But the remainder of Belden's arrangements inspire top-notch performances, especially the playful "Blues à la Russe" (Russian Dance Trepack) and the delicious bossa nova treatment of "Mirlitonova" (Dance of the Reeds). Highly recommended for listening, at any time of year. ---Ken Dryden, AllMusic Review

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Piano Concerto #2 In C Minor
1 	Movement I – Part I 	0:54
2 	Movement I – Part II 	8:44
3 	Movement I – Part III 	6:41
4 	Movement I – Part IV 	4:09
5 	Movement II – Part V 	4:47
6 	Movement II – Part I 	5:55
7 	Movement II – Part II – Cadenza Version 	5:38
8 	Movement III – Part I 	6:12
9 	Movement III – Part II 	6:09

Bass – Ron Carter
Drums – Lewis Nash
Piano – Kenny Barron
Vibraphone, Marimba – Stefon Harris 

Playing jazz versions of classical compositions has a long history that goes back even before jazz had a name -- when the procedure was called "ragging the classics." And, at that time, Rachmaninov would have been prime fodder for such treatment: his memorable, self-contained melodies and uncomplicated structures just needed the spice of African-American rhythms to cross the genre boundary. Jazz treatments of classical music reached a high-water mark in popularity with the Bach recordings of the Modern Jazz Quartet in the 1950s, but then declined as more confrontational ideologies came to the fore in jazz (although even then interchanges among avant-garde musicians were frequent). Various revivals of the idea have bubbled up in recent years, and the Classical Jazz Quartet -- Kenny Barron on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Stefon Harris on vibraphone and marimba, and Lewis Nash on drums -- now has hit on the unique insight that Rachmaninov can stand up to more modern treatment as well. The entire disc is based on Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C sharp minor, whose three movements are broken up into thematic sections, each of which serves as a basis for mainstream, post-bop modern jazz improvisations. Rachmaninov works as well for this purpose as would popular song melodies (for several of which his music served as the source anyhow). Barron and Carter are renowned jazz players, and they deliver exciting performances; Carter provides the rhythmic drive that's necessary to carry this kind of project off, and Barron nods entertainingly toward the source material with passages of even, nonsyncopated rhythms. This is a jazz disc rather than a performance of Rachmaninov, and it's an expert, sophisticated one even if it merely revives a jazz tradition rather than breaking new ground in inter-genre dialogue. ---James Manheim, AllMusic Review

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