“The Romanian-American Jazz Suite, by soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome and pianist Lucian Ban, is another very good example of how the jazz aesthetic of personal expression be applied to other music (here Romanian folk music and Christmas carols) and, in essence, subsume it. Having Romanian roots, Ban lent Newsome a collection of Romanian carols put together by Iosif Hertea, providing the inspiration for a four-movement suite “Prelude,” “Colinda,” “Bucharest Part One” and “Bucharest Part Two”—composed and arranged by the saxophonist . . . The Romanian-American Jazz Suite is delightful—emotionally as well as physically moving.
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