Loose Cuts
Giant Box
- Composers
- Stravinsky; Rachmaninoff
- Released
- 1973
- Label
- CTI Records
- Forces
- orchestra; saxophone; vibraphone
- Catalogue
- CTX 6031/32
The box was giant for a literal reason: producer Creed Taylor assembled an enormous CTI orchestra to fill the new four-speaker quadraphonic format. Don Sebesky made the most of it, moving from Stravinsky’s Firebird into John McLaughlin’s “Birds of Fire”, then giving Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise to Paul Desmond and Milt Jackson; the classical writing becomes part of the same oversized studio sound as the album’s jazz, rock and funk.
Hear both
The classical side carries the source works these cuts came from. The jazz side carries the cuts themselves. Each player holds what is available, and they need not match.
The classical player has four videos for two tracks: “Firebird/Birds of Fire” draws on the Introduction, Infernal Dance and Finale from Stravinsky’s 1919 Firebird Suite, so all three appear before Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise.
Spotify’s player is here for convenience; the cuts remain listed below for everyone.
The cuts
The classical-derived cuts from this record, each with the classical work it came from.
- Firebird/Birds Of FireStravinsky: The Firebird, 1919 Suite: Introduction, Infernal Dance of King Kashchei and Finale. The track also plays John McLaughlin’s Birds of Fire, which is non-classical.
- VocaliseRachmaninoff: Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14