1. Take The 5th (Beethoven’s “5th Symphony”)
2. One More Night With You (Grieg’s “Hall Of The Mountain King”)
3. Wolfgang’s Big Night Out (Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusic”)
4. Honey Man (Rimskey-Korsakov’s “Flight Of The Bumblebee”)
5. Yes We Can Can (Offenbach’s “The Can Can”)
6. Swingin’ Willie (Rossini’s “William Tell Overture”)
7. Sabre Dance (Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance”)
8. For Lisa (Beethoven’s “Fur Elise”)
9. Here Comes The Broad (Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”)
10. 1812 Overdrive (Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”)
11. Some River In Europe (Strauss’ “Blue Danube”)
12. Take A Break Guys (“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”)
 
Total time: 44:11

For a while, it looked as if the Brian Setzer Orchestra had been relegated to the occasional Christmas album. But after two trio albums utilizing BSO members, and a couple of solo discs (one a Sun Records tribute), Setzer brings the 16-piece big band back.

Anyone who saw the group in the early ’90s, when it rode the crest of the swing-revival wave it helped start, knows that renditions of themes from “James Bond,” “The Pink Panther” and “Hawaii Five-O” as well as instrumental standards such as “Sleepwalk” and “Caravan” were concert highlights. Imagine an entire album of instrumentals, each an adaptation of a well-known classical composition, and that’s “Wolfgang.”

Securing legendary arranger/composer Frank Comstock to handle the horn charts for seven songs is an incredible coup. And if those flutes and piccolos on “Yes We Can Can,” “Swingin’ Willie” and the title track sound reminiscent of the music from “McHale’s Navy,” it’s no wonder – Comstock scored the show’s last couple of seasons.

Truly amazing is Setzer’s ability to incorporate his Gretsch’s tremolo into big-band arrangements, and he outdoes himself here, especially on “Some River in Europe.” Other highlights include the Hot Club of France-style “For Lisa” (featuring special guest Sid Page, original Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks violinist) and the only song on which Setzer sings, “One More Night With You.”

external links
artist’s link
amazon.com
iTunes Store

oct 2007 reviews