DON SEBESKY - GIANT BOX

Reposted from OIR september 07.
I was lucky enough to pick this up on a Japanese cd reissue yesterday so here's a sonically improved rip of this CTI bomb which sounds better than my original vinyl rip.
Don Sebesky for CTI from 1973.I avoided this like the plague for 30 years imagining it to be all that was bloated and bland from CTI which sure churned out some shite in it's time.Then I saw it posted last year at Le Blog de Pekis ripped @128 from the jap cd.And I downloaded it to see if my preconceptions were right.They were not.It was fantastic!Absolutely fucking fantastic!!
From the Axelrod sounding "Psalm 150" and "Semi-Tough" ,the gorgeous "Song to a Seagull" to the banging fusion of "Firebird/Birds of Fire"(Mahavishnu Orchestra meets Stravinsky head on)this really is....All Killer,No Filler.

AMG on the case:

This may have been Creed Taylor's most ambitious single project. As the cash was flowing in the wake of Deodato's massive "2001" hit, Taylor rounded up almost every headliner on CTI's roster, had house-arranger Don Sebesky write big-thinking charts for them, and gave Sebesky top billing and two LPs of space. Two decades later, the lineup reads almost like a gathering of the gods -- Freddie Hubbard, Randy Brecker, Hubert Laws, Paul Desmond, Joe Farrell, Grover Washington, Jr., Milt Jackson, George Benson, Bob James, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Cobham, Airto Moreira, Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, all on one album. Thankfully the musicmaking lives up to the billing. Everything that gave CTI its distinctive sound and identity is here -- the classical adaptations (Stravinsky's Firebird is merged shotgun-style with John McLaughlin's "Birds of Fire"), elaborate orchestrations and structuring, pop-tune covers, plenty of room for the star soloists to stretch out in a combo format. The stars all come out to shine; Desmond sounds especially inspired in a shimmering "Song to a Seagull" and Hubbard and Washington burn furiously on the appropriately-titled "Free as a Bird." And Sebesky was given a flyer to experiment; hence the wild extended swarms of freeform strings on "Firebird" and Laws' fancy Echoplexed winds on "Fly." The two original LPs were gathered in a classical-style box, complete with a booklet of photos and an interview with Sebesky, but the austere CBS CD reissue condenses everything onto a generic single disc. However less ostentatious, Giant Box still ranks as a sensational coup and a reminder of how potent CTI was at its peak. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

Piano/Electric Piano/Organ/Accordion/Clavinet: Don Sebesky (piano on "Semi-Tough" electric piano on "Firebird/Birds of Fire", "Song To A Seagull, "Free As A Bird" organ on "Semi-Tough" accordian on "Free As a Bird", "Circles" clavinet on "Semi-Tough")Piano/Organ: Bob James (piano on "Vocalise" piano solo on "Free as a Bird", "Circles" organ solo on "Psalm 150", "Semi-Tough")Bass/Electric Bass/Piccolo Bass: Ron CarterDrums: Billy Cobham (on "Firebird/Birds of Fire", "Psalm 150", "Semi-Tough") Jack DeJohnette (on "Song to a Seagull", "Free as a Bird", "Vocalise", "Fly", "Circles")Vocal: Jackie Cain and Roy Kral (on "Psalm 150") Don Sebesky (on Introduction to "Psalm 150", vocal solo on "Fly")Horns and Woodwinds: 16 in all including Randy Brecker, trumpet and flugelhorn Garnett Brown, trombone 3 trumpets, 5 trombones, 2 French horns, five sax/flutes, one tubaGuitar: George Benson (solo on "Semi-Tough") Harry Leahey (on "Firebird/Birds of Fire")Percussion: Airto (on "Firebird/Birds of Fire", "Circles", "Semi-Tough") Rubens Bassini (conga on "Psalm 150") Dave Friedman Phil Kraus Ralph McDonald (on "Psalm 150")Saxophone: Paul Desmond (alto solo on "Song to a Seagull", "Vocalise") Joe Farrell (soprano solo on "Circles") Grover Washington, Jr. (alto solo on "Semi-Tough" soprano solo on "Free As A Bird")Vibraphone: Milt Jackson (solo on "Vocalise")Trumpet/Flugelhorn: Freddie Hubbard (trumpet solo on "Firebird/Birds Of Fire", "Psalm 150" flugelhorn solo on "Free As A Bird")Flute/Soprano Saxophone: Hubert Laws (flute solo on "Firebird/Birds Of Fire", "Fly", "Circles")Violin: 14Cello: 4Harp: Margaret RossConcert string bass: Homer MenschVocal background: Lani Groves, Carl Caldwell, Tasha Thomas
The interlude between "Fly" and "Circles" is performed by Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter, Joe Farrell, and Hubert Laws.

Reissued in Japan on cd but tough to find-no vinyl reissues.