{"id":5128,"date":"2013-10-01T13:34:33","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T20:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=5128"},"modified":"2013-10-01T15:39:02","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T22:39:02","slug":"october-suite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2013\/10\/october-suite\/","title":{"rendered":"October Suite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy October. I can think of no better way to welcome my favorite month than to remind you of a splendid recording named for it. Gary McFarland (1933-1971) composed and arranged October Suite<\/em> for the pianist Steve Kuhn. They recorded it in 1966. Almost immediately, the LP on the Impulse! label went into \"October<\/a>hiding. Well into this century, a CD version<\/a> finally appeared. The quality of October Suite<\/em> earns it renown far beyond what it has received. Many recordings of McFarland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s music, and of Kuhn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, have attracted more attention. Few have October Suite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/em> consistent beauty. None has its success in melding musical idioms, with the possible exception of McFarland’s 1963 collaboration<\/a> with pianist Bill Evans. October Suite<\/em> has mistakenly been labeled Third Stream, but no categorical description captures its elegance. The suite can fairly be called, without reference to genre, a minor masterpiece of writing by McFarland and of playing by Kuhn and a small chamber orchestra. Bassist Ron Carter and drummer Marty Morell are important to the success of the performances.<\/p>\n

No tracks of the suite seem to have appeared as videos in the usual places. On Vimeo, Kristian St. Clair has posted a segment of his documentary<\/a> about McFarland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s short, productive career and the unsolved mystery of his death. Gene Lees once called McFarland an adult prodigy. A similar term might be applied to Kuhn, who was 28 at the time of the recording. In the documentary, composer-arranger-saxophonist Bill Kirchner discusses McFarland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talent, and Kuhn comments on his collaboration with McFarland. The film includes passages of Mark Masters conducting music from October Suite<\/em> for his 2007 McFarland tribute album Wish Me Well<\/em><\/a>, which has Kuhn reprising his role.<\/p>\n