Nguyên Lê

celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon

with Michael Gibbs & NDR Bigband
Nguyên Lê with Michael Gibbs & NDR Bigband ACT 9574-2

celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon

01 Speak To Me (N. Mason) 1:56 Nguyên Lê / electric guitar, electronics

02 Inspire (N. Lê) 2:54 Youn Sun Nah / vocals
03 Breathe (R. Waters, D. Gilmour, R. Wright) 2:33 Gary Husband / drums
04 On The Run (D. Gilmour, R. Waters) 2:42 Jü rgen Attig / electric fretless bass
05 Time (N. Mason, R. Waters, D. Gilmour, R. Wright) 9:51 NDR Bigband conducted by Jörg Achim Keller
06 Magic Spells (N. Lê, Youn Sun Nah) 2:20
07 Hear This Whispering (N. Lê) 2:01
08 The Great Gig In The Sky (R. Wright) 2:17
09 Gotta Go Sometime (N. Lê) 3:14
10 Money (R. Waters) 6:12
11 Us And Them (R. Waters, R. Wright) 7:52
12 Purple Or Blue (C. Stoetter, N. Lê) 2:53
13 Any Colour You Like (N. Mason, D. Gilmour, R. Wright) 5:18
14 Brain Damage (R. Waters) 4:13
15 Eclipse (R. Waters) 2:34

All arrangements by Nguyên Lê, except 04, 14 & 15 by Michael Gibbs

Orchestrations by Michael Gibbs

Produced by Nguyên Lê

Cover art: “Blue Valentine” (detail, 2009) by Martin Noël (1956 - 2010),
by permission of Margarete Noël

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There are people who remember 1973 for a quartet whose psychedelic inclinations caused the band to throw a fortress of an album into the arena for lions to
feed on: “The Dark Side Of The Moon” was unique, a musical UFO which wrote Pink Floyd into rock history.
Fast forward to ACT-director Siggi Loch, and NDR producers Stefan Gerdes and Axel Dürr, whose radio Big Band is no secret for jazz fans. They came up with
the idea of re-reading the Dark Side monolith. A bold initiative, yes, because the project implied an orchestra capable of linking tradition with today. But on the
other hand, the album they wanted to do involved Michael Gibbs – composer, arranger, old friend – and especially Nguyên Lê, a guitarist known for freely
jumping stylistic borders. They’d be joining forces, and so the project seemed to have every chance of success.
Nguyên Lê typifies the musician whose art has come to bloom not only via his own compositions but also in celebrating the music of the past: Nguyên Lê
makes sculptures of the latter as if it represented new clay... Remember “Purple”, his tribute to Jimi Hendrix… or, more recently, his “Songs of Freedom” and its
evocations of rock‘s greatest moments. The truth about Nguyên Lê is that, while always paying courteous deference to his source material, he’s also wanted
to express the full diversity of the imaginary world engendered by his own history, that of a voyager and self-taught virtuoso.
And here he illuminates that imaginary world yet again: Nguyên Lê enlightens the Floyd’s repertoire – pure happiness – and enchants it with the collusion of the
NDR Bigband and its brilliant soloists, deploying new sound-textures created by the uplifting orchestrations of Michael Gibbs. The arrangements here – Gibbs
wrote three, Nguyên Lê wrote the others – provide choice settings for inspired improvisations and also reveal other compositions which appear as natural
extensions of the original opus. The guitarist’s playing sparkles with those fiery, oriental accents we’ve learned to love, sustained by guests he can trust: Jürgen
Attig, Gary Husband, or Youn Sun Nah, whose chalice is brimming with magnetic grace.
“Celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon” is no simple tribute to a record which made history. It fervently expresses the re-creation – exempt from all imitation –
of a score which you can hear in filigree. This is a palimpsest. The writing can still be (re)read, with warm hues forged by respect for the original matrix and the
multiple expressions of its identity. Like a principle of Life.

Denis Desassis, translated by Martin Davies

The NDR Bigband:

Conductor: Jörg Achim Keller

Trumpets: Thorsten Benkenstein, Benny Brown, Ingolf Burkhardt, Claus Stötter (solo on 12) & Reiner Winterschladen

Saxophones / reeds: Fiete Felsch (alto & flute / solo on 11), Peter Bolte (alto & flute), Christof Lauer (tenor & soprano / solo on 4),
Lutz Büchner (tenor & soprano / solo on 14), Sebastian Gille (tenor & soprano), Marcus Bartelt (baritone & bass clarinet)

Trombones: Dan Gottshall, Klaus Heidenreich, Stefan Lottermann, Ingo Lahme (tuba & bass trombone)

Piano & synths: Vladyslav Sendecki (solo on 8)

Percussion: Marcio Doctor

Recorded at NDR Bigband studio by Michael Ploetz and

Wolfgang Dirks (audio technician), Hamburg, from December 2 - 6, 2013
Youn Sun Nah recorded by Nguyên Lê
Recording Producer: Walter Quintus
Produced and mixed by Nguyên Lê at Louxor studios, Paris Barbès, March & April 2014
Mastered by Bruno Gruel at Elektra Mastering, France
Photo (live from the 2013 Moers Festival): Patrick Essex

A Norddeutscher Rundfunk production

Executive Producers: Axel Dürr & Stefan Gerdes

Special thanks to Nick Mason, who opened the doors for this project to proceed! “Speak To Me” uses the voices of Youn Sun Nah, Mieko Miyazaki,
Huong Thanh & some internet translating robots
Nguyên Lê uses Fractal Audio AxeFX II, DR strings, Vovox cables & Audeze headphones

www.nguyen-le.com
www.ndr.de/orchester_chor/bigband
ACT 9410-2

ACT 9506-2

ACT 9567-2