Recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 12, 1993, but not released for two-and-a-half years,
George Duke's Muir Woods Suite is a musical work for orchestra (
L'orchestre National de Lille, conducted by
Ettore Strata) and jazz group (himself on piano,
Stanley Clarke on bass,
Chester Thompson on drums,
Paulinho Dacosta on percussion). As that combination suggests, it's eclectic. Some sections make full use of the orchestra in passages reminsicent of 19th century classical music, but then a bass or drum solo leads into a jazz section. Consistently engaging, but disparate, the suite has the air of a movie soundtrack. ~ William Ruhlmann