Neil Rosengarden: Press

Your music's got legs!

September 27, 2007

Our Critics' Picks
THURSDAY 9/27

Audio Aphrodisiac
AQUA VELVET CD RELEASE PARTY For anyone who was conceived sometime between tracks 1 and 10 on Jackie Gleason’s Music to Change Her Mind, the second CD from Jim Hoke and Randy Leago’s lounge-pop project should stir some pretty blissful prenatal memories. Exotica meets erotica in these luscious reworkings of ’60s and ’70s nuggets from Bacharach to Zappa, given a foot-deep sheen of studio polish by multi-instrumentalists Hoke and Leago, vocalist Kristi Rose, monster session cohorts Richard Bennett, Neil Rosengarden and Steve Herrman, and helpers ranging from Sari and Austin Hoke to Brad Jones, Daniel Tashian, Bill Lloyd and Swan Dive (delivering a genius mash-up of Todd Rundgren’s “Hello It’s Me” and the Beach Boys’ “Caroline, No”). The opening salvo of Johnny Mathis’ “Chances Are” sets the mood for A Splash of Aqua Velvet: matadorial horns segue into lush hula makeout music, as if stoking the fires for a get-busy session between Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. What keeps the Austin Powers luau sound from getting too precious (or old) are the depth and swoop of the arrangements, the obvious delight of the superb musicians and the sheer gorgeousness of songs such as The Left Banke’s bewitching “Pretty Ballerina” and Petula Clark’s “You’d Better Come Home” (which features some of Rose’s most subtle yet dramatic vocals on record). The ensemble plays two sets. 8 p.m. at The Basement —JIM RIDLEY

Music
August 30, 2007

Tooting Their Horn
Over the Rhine won’t settle for just a regular night out on the town

Playing Sunday, 2nd at 3rd & Lindsley w/Swan Dive
by Jewly Hight

Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler, the married duo at the core of Over the Rhine, have long been in the business of commingling substance and pleasure. But never before has that musical mélange been quite as potent as it is on The Trumpet Child. Their 11th album—recorded in Nashville with producer Brad Jones—may well be the stiffest and most satisfying cocktail of their more than decade-and-a-half career.

The smoldering jazz of opening track “I Don’t Wanna Waste Your Time”—with Detweiler’s luxurious piano and Bergquist’s smoky, swaying lilt dressed up by Jim Hoke and Neil Rosengarden’s swanky horns—displays just how good they are at simultaneously reviving the heart and engaging the mind: “So come on lighten up / let me fill your cup / I’m just trying to imagine a situation / where we might have a real conversation.”

If Over the Rhine’s last studio album, Drunkard’s Prayer, was an intimate, stay-at-home affair, then these 11 songs issue an invitation to join them a couple of glasses into the evening when the edge has already been taken off, neckties are loosened and smoke is lazily curling through the air. In short, The Trumpet Child shows Bergquist and Detweiler in the mood to savor the sensual, spiritual pleasure of a well-written song.

“We wanted to pan back a little wider on some of our musical influences, which included what we’re referring to as the pre-rock ’n’ roll era of American music—the American songbook,” says Detweiler. “Just starting out, we had a moonlighting gig at one of the nicer hotels in Ohio. We would play old standards. We weren’t really jazz musicians, and we sort of put our own spin on them. But we really got to spend time with the songs of Cole Porter and Frank Loesser and Gershwin and Rodgers and Hart. It was really great to get that into our DNA.”

The final track—an anthemic, pedal steel-sweetened two-beat titled “If a Song Could Be President,” diverts attention from the troubling state of political affairs to the laudable tradition of American songwriting, name-dropping Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, John Prine and Lightnin’ Hopkins in a manner far more akin to Van Morrison than to hip-hop-style trash-talking. (Neil Young also receives a mention, “even though he came from Canada.”)

“Van Morrison was such a painfully earnest songwriter,” says Detweiler. “ ‘Earnest’ is a dirty word in 2007. People prefer a little bit more detachment, I think, in terms of their pop culture tastemakers. But Van Morrison was always name-dropping his influences in his songs in a very honest way of acknowledging a debt of gratitude.”

The album’s title track—with its regally seductive ebb and flow, apocalyptic imagery and Bergquist’s suppler-than-ever vocals—is transcendent, brought to earth by the weary, insolent notes Rosengarden sounds on his horn. “The old hymns were always talking about ‘when the trumpet of the lord shall sound,’ ” says Detweiler. “Is that real? Is that a metaphor? With all the great American horn players that we’ve heard, if we were to wake up one morning and somebody was playing trumpet in the sky, what would that sound like? We considered having the record cover being Miles Davis coming down out of the sky with a cape on.”


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BIO: Over The Rhine
 
After more than 15 years making music, it’s obvious Ohio duo Over The Rhine is in it for the long haul, and for keeps. Their commitment is underscored by their latest, The Trumpet Child, and its opening track, “I Don’t Wanna Waste Your Time,” a manifesto of sorts for the artists recently named to Paste magazine’s list of 100 Best Living Songwriters. Look no further than the lyrics to this track for what animates Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist, the married couple at the heart of Over The Rhine: “I hope this night puts down deep roots / I hope we plant a seed / ‘Cause I don’t wanna waste your time / With music you don’t need.”

“Believe me, we don’t want to waste anybody’s time,” elaborates Detweiler. “When we stop believing we’re doing our best work, we’re done. Every song has to be good, every record has to be great, every concert has to have some spiritual significance—something that we can’t quantify, something bigger than all of us.”

Over The Rhine may not be a household name, but to call the act’s followers “fanatical” would understate the point, and they’re not shy about converting the curious. Why? For starters, there’s Bergquist’s torchy, devil-may-care voice, brimming with Midwestern soul, unafraid to lay bare every emotional resonance. And again, there’s the life-and-death commitment dripping from her every word. “I’m either into it or I’m not, because there’s no faking it with me,” Bergquist notes. “Life’s way too short for that.”

Detweiler and Bergquist’s evocative, earthy songwriting and impassioned delivery is at its finest in The Trumpet Child. The new record is a collaboration with ultra-talented Nashville producer/arranger Brad Jones (Matthew Sweet, Josh Rouse, Ron Sexsmith, Richard Julian, et. al) and celebrates American music in the most richly imaginative ways.

“We love a good song, period,” Detweiler notes. “ It could be an old country tune Patsy Cline is singing on an old jukebox in one of our favorite Kentucky dives; it could be Lightnin’ Hopkins grumbling over a timeless blues riff; it could be Sachmo, the dignity of his voice and the joy in his horn; it could be Tom Waits kicking up the dust on the hardwood floor of a grange hall at some imaginary revival meeting—it can be all over the map musically—but what ultimately keeps us interested is the mystery of the song itself.”

Such a wide-ranging approach met its best match in Jones, who collaborated with the band on arrangements and scoured Nashville’s broken-bottle-strewn back alleyways for an arresting array of horn, woodwind and string players to festoon the trademark simplicity of Over the Rhine. The result is a juicy, informally epic pop album unlike any other you’re likely to hear this year.

“I first heard Brad’s bass playing on records Mitchell Froom was producing—Ron Sexsmith’s Whereabouts is a great example—and I kept thinking to myself, ‘This bass player is better than Paul McCartney,’” Detweiler recalls. “I think we knew we were on to something special when we saw Brad sketch out the instrumental arrangement on ‘Nothing is Innocent’—he heard that alto flute and those strings in his head before anyone played a note. Brad’s a bit of a mad scientist, and a very special musician.”

The Trumpet Child unfolds like an unforgettable evening of blissful underground cabaret—an all-night performance at a private party, jovial friends passing around instruments together into the wee hours. And it’s unquestionably Bergquist’s finest hour vocally. “On earlier records, I was unintentionally playing it a bit safe at times,” she says. “I had all this stuff bottled up and I was afraid that if I let it out, even musically, I’d be laughed at or, God forbid, misunderstood. Now, I’m more lost in it. More drunk on it. Far more out of control about it. Messy, juicy and tangled up.”

Over The Rhine began in 1990 as a more conventional four-piece rock band, albeit one far more in tune with the nuances of songcraft than its three-chord, grunge-era contemporaries. “I was continuing my education, considering my masters degree, when this tall, lanky fella approached me about singing lead for some rock band in Cincinnati,” recalls the classically trained Bergquist. “I didn’t just jump at the chance. I lunged.”

Adopting the name of the gritty neighborhood Over-The-Rhine, where the foursome found fertile soil, the group quickly became a local sensation and graduated from sold-out weekend club dates to opening tours for Adrian Belew and Bob Dylan. Two lavishly packaged independent records later, the young group signed to IRS, which re-released second record Patience with its original artwork, a first for the label (and a tribute to the vision and attention to detail which has always marked the band).

Seeking artistic autonomy, the band returned to independence for Good Dog Bad Dog, a collection of glorified demos and home recordings that nonetheless eventually outsold the band’s three previous IRS releases combined and knit the band tightly to its fanbase, which, by then, had come to hang on the group’s every move. (A collection of recordings—live, and otherwise—offered exclusively to fans bears witness to the band’s ardent, enduring cult.)

The next few years found the band pared to its core duo of Detweiler and Bergquist, as the two locked arms with likeminded fellow travelers Cowboy Junkies, touring as “honorary members” of the group, and released their Virgin/Backporch debut, Films For Radio. Next came Over The Rhine’s magnum opus, the double album Ohio, “a deeply moving, maddening, and redemptive work of art, and necessary, ambitious pop,” as All Music Guide’s Thom Jurek put it in a 4.5-star review. The intimate, living-room record Drunkard’s Prayer followed—recorded, literally, in the duo’s Cincinnati living room—as the sound continued to expand beyond rock to encompass elements of country and jazz, punctuated by Drunkard’s Prayer’s final track, a moody, late-night reading of “My Funny Valentine.”

So it’s fitting that the first sound the listener hears on The Trumpet Child is that of a brass-and-woodwind ensemble, arranged by Detweiler like some lost Southern hymn. “We had been stunned by the whole Katrina debacle in New Orleans, and that was a big part of why we wanted horns and clarinets to be blowing through this music,” notes Detweiler.

And what of the title track? Who is this “trumpet child,” anyway? Detweiler explains: “Both Karin and I grew up around a lot of old church music. I think some of the old hymns taught us that words could be beautiful, with their titles like ‘Softly and Tenderly,’ ‘When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder,’ and ‘Let the Lower Lights Be Burning.’ A theme that recurred in a lot of the old hymns was the idea that the world would be reborn with the sound of a trumpet. We’ve all heard many of the great American trumpet (and horn) players—Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Stan Getz—and we’ve been wondering about the sound of that trumpet. Is it real? Is it a metaphor? What, exactly, is on God’s iPod?”

Appropriately, the song is embellished by a lush, aching, muted trumpet, played by Neil Rosengarden, who was an ace in the hole for Jones and the band, despite first impressions. “Neil came in walking with a cane, asked for a glass of water, dumped a cocktail of pain meds into his palm—down the hatch!—went and took a nice long smoke, then listened to the song,” Detweiler recalls. “But he played some great tidbits—heartbroken, simple, heart-still-beating-in-spite-of-it-all riffs.”

In terms of The Trumpet Child’s themes, Detweiler says, “On this project, I think we returned to the quintessential stuff that’s always interested us in our writing: spirituality, sexuality, living vividly, challenging the status quo and subtly taking power away from those who have too much and transferring it to people who have too little.”

Encouragement can come from many sources, and for Over The Rhine, a vote of confidence from Dave Foreman, their sound engineer, has put fire in their bellies. Foreman, a childhood friend of John Hiatt’s from Indiana who’s served many great songwriters on the road, came out of retirement—and the baggage of a heroin addiction that landed him in Cincinnati to clean up and start a family—to tour with the band.

“We ran into Dave at a concert in Kentucky a few years ago and got to talking about the possibility of him coming out of retirement to tour with Over the Rhine as our sound engineer,” Detweiler says. “Part of our conversation consisted of Dave saying, ‘The thing is, I don’t want to leave my wife Sharon behind; I don’t want to leave my daughter Emmy behind and go back out on the great American highway—unless we’re going to go deep.’”

Go deep? That’s the only place Over The Rhine has ever gone.
 

Two Points For Experimentation
      by C. Warner Sills
Like previous albums Ganging Up On The Sun features one epic track, "Ruby Falls," which is one of their best songs ever written and does a nice job experimenting with the band's new range of musical instrumentation (the song features Radiohead style guitar work thanks to the fourth Guster, Joe Pisapia, a nice female backup vocal track by Nashville vocalist Melissa Mathes and a beautiful muted trumpet outro by Neil Rosengarden).

Guy band does good, July 4, 2006
There are boy bands and there are guy bands. Boy bands are for braindead teenyboppers who don't mind hearing the same beat in every song the band plays.
Guy bands are for people who love to rock and relate easily to the lyrics of the songs of various moods that the band chooses.
Boy bands have flashing lights and choreography. Guy bands have stools, microphone stands and an occasional stand to put their lyric sheets on.
Guster is a guy band and God love them for it.
With their latest CD, Ganging Up On The Sun, they have more than enough variety in their songs to capture the interest of the serious fan and Guster newbies alike. The variety goes from energy rock (C'mon) to what I like to call Halloween Rock (New Underground), and they even have a country-style song, The Captain, that could find its way sneaking into the country stations if their A&R person is awake enough to do so.
Where their previous cd, Lost And Gone Forever, dealt with the issue of "You broke my heart, now get the hell out", a number of the Sun songs are more along the lines of "I tried. I failed. I'll wallow in it for a bit. I'll try again."
Their first single 'One Man Wrecking Machine' seems a bit slow beated for a choice for their first single. Decent song but slow.
My choice would have been my favorite of the cd, "C'mon". When you listen to it, you can almost picture what the video of it would look like.
My second choice would be 'Manifest Destiny' where the boys give a nod to Talking Heads with the borrowed line "like an Adam and an Eve" from 'Nothing But Flowers' which Guster plays sometimes at their concerts.
A couple of songs, 'Empire State' and 'Ruby Falls' are very slow, to the point of not being a good idea to listen to them while driving. I do like the lullaby-rock quality of both. A big thumbs up also to Neil Rosengarden for a great job on the trumpet for 'Ruby Falls'. This song does break the Guster tradition of putting their religious song on the 7th track as previous cds did ('All the Way Up To Heaven' and 'Jesus on the Radio'); although, it does dwell into the afterlife a bit.
Two things I was kind of shocked about: 1) Adam Gardner not being in any of the lyrics credits for the songs, and 2) Brian Rosenworcel going to the sticks instead of his hands for the majority of the songs. I guess he's trying to keep his hands from looking like Hellboy's when he's older. :)
Favorite line from a song on this cd goes to 'Dear Valentine': "I'm on my way to a holiday in real time." My understanding of this line is that Valentine's Day makes you more aware of your emotions than any other holiday does. Of course, I could be wrong.
Overall, it's a great cd. It has songs that will stick in your head in a good way. Well done, guys... and, welcome to the group (officially) Joe!! :)

February 14, 1977
THE NEW YORKER
GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN - Whitney Balliett

NIGHT LIFE
(A highly arbitrary listing, in which bold-face type is used to pick out a few of the more notable performers in town.)

RAINBOW ROOM, 30 Rockefeller Plaza. (PL 7-9090) - This gentle and beautiful and stately room, dreaming of glass and steel and stone, has become, willy-nilly, the last of it's kind in the city - a room where one can eat well and dance to the sort o music the human body was designed for: the waltz, the fox-trot, the cha-cha, the merangue, the rhumba. BOBBY ROSENGARDEN has the band, and it is faultless. The quiet, sleek arrangements have texture and bottom, the tempos are juste, and along the way plenty of solos are
squeezed in. These are played by JERRY DODGION (alto saxophone), MORT LEWIS (tenor), KENNY DAVERN (soprano), GEORGE MASSO (trombone), MARTY NAPOLEON (piano), and NEAL ROSENGARDEN (trumpet) - the leader's son and a fine surprise. He is twenty-four, has a soft, belling tone and plenty of agility, and sounds like the late lamented Don Fagerquist. Carrie Smith, who wears a lot of hats, among them Sarah Vaughan's and Bessie Smith's, handles the vocal. sme of the dancing matches the room and the music. Tuesdays through Thursdays from seven to one, Fridays and Saturdays from eight to two, and Sundays from six to midnight.

THE JAZZ CLUB OF SARASOTA
THE JOYS OF JAZZ
VAN WEZEL PERFORMING ARTS HALL
DECEMBER 28, 1992

Joys Of Jazz, the toe-tapping holiday spectacular from the Jazz Club of Sarasota, will have a family look - and sound - this year when jazz stars and their offspring team up December 28 to brighten the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall with some multi-generational jazz.
Titled "All In The Family," the annual jazz show will be directed by percussionist Bob Rosengarden and clarinetist Walt Levinsky and will bring together popular jazz musicians who have children who are also successful professional jazz players.
Rosengarden will bring sons Neil and Mark Rosengarden, both California-based musicians. Neil is a trumpeter; Mark plays drums.
Levinsky will be on stage with his son, pianist Ken Levinsky.
Joining them will be pianist and all-around renaissance musician Dick Hyman, with his daughter, Judy Hyman.
Popular trombonist Bill Allred will be joined by his equally popular tombonist son, John Allred.
New York bassist and lyricist Jay Leonhart, who drew raves with his fine bass work and witty comments at a Jazz Club concert last year, will be here with his son, Michael Leonhart, award-winning trumpeter.
Vocalist Sandy Stewart will join her son, Billy Charlap for the concert. Charlap, who was a featured member of the Gerry Mulligan quartet last year was last in Sarasota at a Jazz Club concert in January. He and his mother recently had a five-week engagement at Michael's Pub in New York. The show, produced by the Jazz Club of Sarasota, will be at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall December 28. It will be seen at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples December 27.

The American Rag July 2006 Page 35

Harvey Barkan's CD
Selection of the Month
Neil Rosengarden & His Friends Play the Music of Fats Waller & Others
Trans Fats, Self-Produced,
13 Selections on CD; TT:42:47

When you see the term "trans
fats," it brings to mind things said to be nutritionally bad, but not here! "Trans Fats" is a new CD of mostly Fats Waller material performed
by Neil Rosengarden & His Friends.
So many recordings are done in
theoretically ideal conditions, in sound studios, it's easy to forget those weren't the usual conditions under which Fats Waller would have played them back then, nor those recreating his music today at clubs or most other venues. This was recorded live, with the resulting background noises and less than great sound. but it's what you
would have heard if you were there.
The recording brings to mind a period picture of a smoke filled club in the difficult 1930s, crowded with people having a good time. With an easy, relaxed feel, the band does a good job in this context, capturing the spirit of the Fats Waller tunes and times. The individually featured players supported by prominent rhythm guitar is a nice part of that era sound.
Included are some unusual numbers
not heard much, as "Barnacle Bill The Sailor" and "Jazz Legato;" the pretty "Louisiana Fairy Tale;" and the catchytune that stays with you, "A Little Bit Independent." The other great old-timey songs are: "You Stayed AwayToo Long," "A Sweet Beginning Like This," "You Fit Into The Picture,""Sing An Old Fashioned Song,""Don't Let It Bother You," 'It's A SinTo Tell A Lie," "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea," " Frolic Sam," and "Love In My Heart," for a total of just under 43 minutes.
The band members are Neil
Rosengarden, (leader, vocals,
trumpet,Hammond organ),Jim Hoke,(tenor sax, clarinet), Michael Alvey (piano), Dave Hungate (guitar,
trombone), John Vogt (bass), Walter
Hartman (drums), and Sam Levine
(baritone and alto sax) on three tunes. The musicians do a good job, but unfortunately there are no notes or information about them included. I miss the inclusion of an insert in the CD box/package which informs about both the selections and the musicians being listened to. A separate brief bio of Rosengarden, leader, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist, listed about 65 significant musicians and bands he has played with, including Cab Calloway, Dick Hyman, Bill Watrous, Aretha Franklin, and Herbie Mann.
Trans Fats is available from
www.cdbaby.com or phone 800-buy-
my-cd.

Nashville Scene Critic's Picks April 2006

TUESDAY, 4TH

NEIL ROSENGARDEN This guy made his TV debut in 1961 at age 9 on an NBC Thanksgiving special, performing a duet with trumpeter Al Hirt. In the intervening years, he’s amassed an eclectic résumé, even in a town as saturated with studio rats as Nashville. Though known mostly for his work on trumpet, flugelhorn and French horn, Rosengarden sings and plays just about every instrument imaginable, and has worked with everyone from Aretha Franklin, Ethel Merman and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins to Doug Sahm, Jill Sobule and Guster. He’s also a prolific composer and arranger. His most recent disc, Insurgency, Insurgency! Everybody to Get From Street!, is an encyclopedia of sophisticated pop styles, echoing strains of Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson and Steely Dan. Playing 9 p.m. at The Basement’s New Faces Nite —JACK SILVERMAN

October 1990
HOME & STUDIO RECORDING - Reader's Tapes
Reviews by Sis X.

Where: At home
What: 4-track recorder

The Plaid Album is one of the most infectious and whimsical collections of music I've heard in a long time. Perhaps its appeal lies within the recording's structure - it is a cyclic stew of sly observations about modern life. There are many pop, jazz, and classical influences in this collection, not to mention the simple yet insightful lyrics.
The pieces are tied together by their titles, rhythms, and keyboard riffs in a way that is reminiscent of the Beatles' White Album (a Latin-flavored version of Paperback Writer is even included on the B side) or some forms of twentieth century classical music. This is definitely not a commercial product out to make big bucks. Let me give you a lyrical example from "I'm Riding On Air." "I'm riding on air./ My children were just signed up for daycare. / They'll love it there." This song is sung from the point of view of a woman who is trapped in the slavery of her husband's laundry and the children she had with him. An ironic sense of humor is the lyrical rule he follows.
Neil did everything himself on this album, from recording to producing to playing and singing. What is the most surprising is how good he is: a true musical "Renaissance man." But there are some weak spots in this Garden of Eden. The synth patches are repetitive and sometimes sound like an organist at the roller rink or Dodger Stadium. Also, the volume of the drum machine and vocals are inconsistent. Interesting lyrics do not benefit from a lack of volume. It seemed that the drums were dominant in the spots where the vocals should have been. Other than this, The Plaid Album is very smooth for a four-track recording. It just goes to show you that it's not the equipment. It's what you do with it.
I believe this demo tape is now available at a few record stores in L.A. under the same title. By all means pick one up!

BMG
Music Publishing
July 2, 1990

Dear Neil,

RE: THE PLAID ALBUM

I'M INTRIGUED! THIS IS ALOT OF FUN, I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT I CAN DO TO GET YOU TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

DID I NOTICE THAT YOU'RE PLAYING AROUND TOWN? IF SO, PLEASE INVITE ME TO A SHOW.

OTHERWISE, KEEP ME INFORMED AS THINGS PROGRESS,

I'M GOING TO HOLD ON TO THE LP,

ALL THE BEST,

NANCI M. WALKER
DIRECTOR, TALENT ACQUISITION

 What’s wise and witty, yellow, green and red, 72 minutes long, and has 49 tracks
Reviewer: Jimmy Roberts
Question: What’s wise and witty, yellow, green and red, 72 minutes long, and has 49 –- count ‘em! -- 49 tracks? Answer: The Plaid Album, by Neil Rosengarden. Frankly, the ideal way to listen to those 49 tracks is in one big gulp. It’s an hour out of your life, and you’ll be taken on a kaleidoscopic ride through the musical mind – and heart – of Neil Rosengarden, who wrote, sang, played and arranged these songs and instrumentals a number of years ago, and then recorded them in his home studio. Many of the selections are less than a minute long, others are longer, the musical styles are eclectic to the max, yet somehow each track blends into the next perfectly, and I can’t explain why! You take a seat on this “ride” as the styles and moods come at you from all sides: a funky vamp, a classical etude, a samba, a waltz, a lonely ballad (sung with Neil’s plaintively expressive voice), an exuberant R&B song, African drums, muted trumpets, lots of Latin, the list is truly impressive. And the only non-Rosengarden song, the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer,” is also subjected to the Rosengarden touch. You can hear the influence of, among others, John Lennon, Randy Newman, Brian Wilson, Maurice Ravel, and Igor Stravinsky (all are listed in the acknowledgments), but somehow it all comes out Rosengarden! And the final piece of the puzzle is the wit, the irony, the musical jokes, the lyrics that come at you from odd angles. A list of some of the song titles might provide at least some of the flavor: “Let Me Be your Rhino,” “Cuban Kindergarten,” “Martian Mancini,” Waitress From Versailles.” If plaid is a material of varying colors and shapes, then the material on The Plaid Album is constructed of a never-ending variety of colors, moods and rhythms. Composers, in particular, will be tickled and inspired by the musical wit, and some movie producer or record producer should really discover this guy and give him the opportunities he deserves. Highly recommended. ——Reviewed by Jimmy Roberts, composer of Off Broadway’s “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” – longest running revue in New York theater history.

May 13, 2000

Hi Neil,
I have a friend, Michael Brunsfeld, who I work with at ILM, who lives near your brother, Mark Rosengarden. Often Michael and I share music with one another and on one occassion I saw the Sixteen Tunes and What Do You Get CD in his collection. He told me it was music by a friend's brother. So I gave it a listen.
I ended up liking it so much I hardly wanted to give the CD back. He said he'd ask if he could get me one and Mark was kind enough to drop one in his mailbox one morning. So I've now listened to it many times and continue to enjoy the happy, playful sounds. I see so many influences, Burt Bacharach and perhaps even Henry Mancini, to mention two, but your music still has its own distinctive voice. The swirling beat of Zuider Zee is one of those tunes that you just want to play again right after it's finished. Writing On The Wall has a knockabout Neil Hefti quality. Totally infectious. Just makes me feel good. I also enjoy
Cuban jazz and your Mambo #2 stands right along side some of the best I've heard. And Theme From Something Else has some wonderful shades of early Mancini. Gosh you guys even do reggae! Fatherhood is a particular favorite, but all the tunes have something fresh and wonderful about them. Perhaps you've been influenced by the musicians I've mentioned, perhaps not, but it's all great stuff.
Anyway, I just wanted to tell you how much I've enjoyed your music, Neil. Needless to say, you've got a new fan!

Best wishes to you and the band,

Kirk Henderson

Los Angeles Music Center Opera
March 3, 1992

Mr. Neil Rosengarden
Neil Rosengarden Orchestras
1963 Marengo Avenue
South Pasadena Avenue
South Pasadena, California 91030

Dear Neil:

Just a quick note to say that we loved your music! I am so glad that Maidie hooked me up with you. I will definitely be calling you for future projects.

Again, thank you for helping to make the "Kullervo" Gala and Patron party a success.

Sincerely,

Allison S. Dietrich
Special Events Coordinator

January 10, 1976
RECORD WORLD - SINGLE PICKS
NEAL ROSENGARDEN - RCA JH 10537
HOLD ON (TO YOUR MEMORIES) (prod. by Richard Lavsky) (Koto,BMI)

A song that offers some sensible advice and a fresh sound. The tune is beautifully sung and displays some nice rhythm roots. Give it a listen.

April 7, 1972
KAL RUDMAN - THE FRIDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

NEAL ROSENGARDEN - "What Can It Be" on Atlantic...I've listened to this one ten times, and there's a dynamic inner vitality that has communicated with me. Will this be lost without even one shot? He wrote, produced, played and arranged it. This kid is a powerful talent, and he has been on the Atlantic Production Staff for some time...where you know he works with the BEST in the world. It rubbed off!

Jay Meyers at WKDU in Pennsylvania said the following about the new single "WHAT CAN IT BE" by NEAL ROSENGARDEN:
"Very smooth sounding and starts very nicely. This disc has the type of sound that is very catchy. This is one that you do not forget very easily once you have heard it.
This, of course, is very important in the success of any effort. Reminds one a little of Todd Rundgren. Composition, possibly stronger. Flows very well and is applicable to all types of programmming. For a first effort, Neal may have a hit on his hands."