Overnight Mail/Telephone Book/

The fist piece 'Overnight Mail' is awesome, I love the instrumentation here (lots of smooth brass and sultry saxes) and the music is catchy and fun. One of his best pieces in my opinion, it is wrought with the rhythmic dynamicism and melodic ingenuity that I have grown to love, and has a sort of 'late-night out in the city' feel. (I was living in San Francisco when I bought this disc, hehe)

The rest of the disc is good and, at times, great. The last piece, change of address, has not grown on me all that much, though I find it to be novel at least. 'The Yellow Pages', the part of 'Telephone Book' that existed on its own originally, is probably one of Torke's most well known chamber works and it is very charming.

Another reviewer commented on the (perceived) superficiality of emotion in this music... It is true that Michael's music tends toward the blatantly positive/cheery side of things emotionally - I believe, however, that the emotions conveyed are genuine. Perhaps some of us are more able than others to embrace this kind of transparent, high-frequency positive energy. (Understandably so). I admit that there have been a few times when i popped a Torke CD in and found it to be completely obnoxious... (but I attribute those instances to temporary losses of sanity)

On the other hand, if you don't like Torke (after all, with him it's mostly a love-hate thing) you won't like this CD. It's as simple as that.

It seems that people who slam this CD aren't really slamming the performance, they are slamming the composer.

If you don't like Minimalism (aka "broken record music), you won't like Torke, and therefore you won't like this CD.

But if you have an open mind about the music, and judge it for what it is, you'll find that this is a very accessible performance, and one worthy of immortalizing on compact disc.

And as a classical saxophone player, I found the recording of "July" a special treat... it's tough to find decent quartet recordings in mainstream stores!

In my opinion, "Overnight Mail", with its jazz roots, really plays a supporting role to "Telephone Book". It makes for easier listening, especially in this performance.

The other works on the CD, while not in the same class as the title work and "Telephone Book", are by no means unbearable. All round, this CD is a gem, containing Torke's best chamber music, with great performances.