On this unusual album, 75-year-old trumpeter
Kenny Wheeler performs eight of his originals with the
Hugo Wolf String Quartet and pianist
John Taylor. Two of the eight songs feature the strings by themselves.
Wheeler is one of the most brilliant and inventive trumpeters of the past 40 years, and also a creative writer. However
Other People has one main fault: a lack of much mood variation. Nearly all of the pieces are taken at ballad tempos (surprisingly, one of the few exceptions focuses on the strings without
Wheeler) and the mood is consistently melancholy.
Wheeler plays well with his occasional entries into the upper register often being surprises, and the strings do an excellent job of interpreting his challenging material.
Taylor's appearances on piano are also welcome. But from the listening standpoint, there is a sameness that pervades much of the music and could have been alleviated by the inclusion of a couple of more stimulating tempos. ~ Scott Yanow