Robert Henry – 12 Nocturnes And A Waltz

Robert Henry – 12 Nocturnes And A Waltz
2010, Muuz Records

Robert Henry makes the phrase “Award Winning pianist” almost passé.  A gold medal in no less than four international competitions, Henry is considered the complete package as a performer (technique, showmanship, style).  Robert Henry earned a Doctorate in Piano Performance from the University of Maryland, and in 2009 was honored with a Distinguished Alumni Award.  He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2002, and is currently a Steinway International artist.  Henry also makes a point of engaging in social causes as well.  Henry coordinated the “$100,000 Hurricane Katrina Relief Tour”, raising $108,000 from concerts presented around the US, for which he received a Distinguished Service Award in 2006.  In 2010, Robert Henry released his debut album, 12 Nocturnes And A Waltz, featuring the works of Chopin, Grieg, Liszt, Stanchinsky, and Chet Atkins, among others. 

Henry opens with Chopin’s “Nocturne in D-Flat Major, Opus 27, No.2” in a gorgeous display of dynamics and emotion, underwritten by perfect technique.  Henry brings out elements of tension and sadness, and also a sense of expectation.  Respighi’s “Notturno” has a melancholy, dream-like aura.  Henry’s lyric style is poignant and full of beauty.  “Notturno” is among the prettiest performances on the album; sublime in the subtlety of Henry’s hands.  “Libersträume, Notturno No. 3” is powerful and full of life.  Henry brings Liszt’s opus to life, contrasting grand, theatrical moments with pianissimo passages that are gorgeous.  Henry plays this like he wrote it, as if the passages were born from his own heart and mind.

Grieg’s “Nocturne, Opus. 54, No. 4” is lovely, dark and a touch sad.  Henry brings out the lyric qualities of the piece in blue passages that are palpably emotive.  Henry breaks out in grand style in Chopin’s “Nocturne in B Major, Opus 62, No. 1”, displaying gorgeous piano runs.  Moving on to the powerful and vibrant second movement, Henry shakes out the cobwebs with powerful dynamics and a theatrical flair that perfectly matches Chopin’s original vision.  “Nocturne (Homage To John Field), Opus 33” is a well-crafted piano interpretation that is prone to fits of aural chaos.  The main theme is pretty, but Henry takes listeners along the path of Barber’s variable musings with a combined sense of reverence and glee.

Henry increases the voltage in Fauré’s “Nocturne In E-Flat Major, Opus 36”, a pretty and nuanced piece infused with a swelling sense of drama and cascading, dream-like movements.  Henry’s work is gorgeous and powerful, distinctive in its lyrical sense yet refined.  Henry sticks with Fauré for “Nocturne In B-Flat Major, Opus 37”, an equally pretty composition, yet more tame both in intent and energy.  Henry next tackles John Field’s “Nocturne No. 4 In A Major, H. 37”, displaying brilliance for interpretation and a rare sense of musicality.  Fields’ composition is a fluttery piece streaked with dark undertones.  Henry manages to bring out the worry lines in the music, subtly painting emotions between the lines.  Alexei Stanchinsky’s “Nocturne” is dark, rueful and sweet.  Henry takes the sad and longing reminiscence and makes it his own in a virtuoso performance full of palpable place and emotion.  Henry closes with his own arrangement of Chet Atkins’ “Waltz For The Lonely”.  Henry is both reverent to the original and creative in his transposition of one of Atkins’ finest works to piano. 

Robert Henry is a treasure; the sort of talent who comes along once or twice a generation.  While the awards and recognitions speak volumes, you have to hear Robert Henry play in order to truly get how good he is.  For what it’s worth, Twelve Nocturnes And A Waltz is definitive proof; this is the sort of recording that becomes more revered over time.  Henry’s technical skill combined with his sense of lyricism and personality allow him to create magic at the piano.  If you’re new to classical music, your collection should start here.  There may not be a brighter young light in classical music than Robert Henry.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5) 

Learn more about Robert Henry at http://www.roberthenry.org/.  12 Nocturnes And A Waltz is available as a CD only from Amazon.com.

Review: Isaac Shepard - The Renewing

Isaac Shepard - The Renewing
2009, Isaac Shepard/BMI

Isaac Shepard grew up in a musical family, playing in family bands from his early teens on (Dave And The Reverbs, Four Shepards And A Lamb). As Shepard grew he branched out into a solo career, playing solo piano pieces that run across the genres of Rock, Classical, Pop, Jazz, Electronica and Trance. Shepard’s music can be heard in several game releases from Reflexive Entertainment, where he is a software engineer. 2009 saw the release of Shepard’s third studio album, The Renewing.

The Renewing opens with Tears Can Fall, a pretty and reverent theme that sounds like a motion picture score element. Shepard drives the center portion of the song in a building scale and crescendo before returning to the flickering melody. Let Me Sleep maintains a faint pop feel in the theme, while allowing the melody to ebb and flow much like slumbers. Good Company takes a much more traditional route, sounding like a Chopin Waltz. Shepard's phrasing here reminded me a bit of Richard Joo, and Good Company was, in my mind, the highlight of the album. Countdown brings drama and intrigue to The Renewing, from its shrill opening to the dark and vaguely urgent arrangement. Shepard creates an essence here that is palpable, capturing the zeitgeist of a dramatic motion picture in notes and the spaces in between.

Simple Moments perhaps seeks to convey the magic of little things, but is more plaintive than grateful. The theme here is quite lovely, but intent and execution perhaps don't quite match. All Smiles is more of an aural painting than anything else, in oils rather than watercolors. All Smiles is forceful and full of life, but again doesn't quite seem to quite match in execution the intent conveyed by the title. Dimming The Lights is pensive and watchful in nature, a peaceful melody imbued with an inner turbulence in the left hand while occasionally soaring through dark skies with the right. Shepard closes with Slow Down, a mild and moody piece that shows great artisanship on the piano.

Isaac Shepard rises above the pack with The Renewing, creating both sights and sounds in music that are more than just "easy listening". Shepard plays with passion and flair, and seems to know how to use pianissimo as effectively as forte. The compositions presented on The Renewing are not exceedingly complex, but the emotional subtleties Shepard evokes in them are compelling.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Isaac Shepard at http://www.isaacshepard.com/ or www.myspace.com/isaacshepard. You can purchase The Renewing as either a CD or Download from CDBaby.com.

Review: MandoMorphosis - 2010

MandoMorphosis - 2010
2009, MandoMorphosis

MandoMorphosis is a Seattle-based collective of seven Mandolin players with varying musical backgrounds who have bound themselves together with the purpose of exploring the "boundaries of new acoustic music". The group consists of Matt Sircely (Hot Club Sandwich, Danny Barnes, Buell Neidlinger); David Tiller (Taarka, ThaMuseMeant); Pete Frostic (Old School Freight Train); Orville Johnson; Michael Connolly (Captain Gravel, Coyote Grace); Adam Larrabee and Scott Scaffer, bringing Jazz, Blues, Bluegrass, World and Classical influences into one intriguing blend. MandoMorphosis' debut album, 2010, will be released in the waning days of 2009.

2010 opens with the brief cacophony of Crash before segueing into Matt's Idea, an intricate mix of Celtic and Bluegrass that challenges listeners across layers of sound. It's an energetic and intriguing opener that perks up the ears. A Minor Squabble is subtle with quiet conflict. On Santa Morena, MandoMorphosis offers a strong southern European feel built in a classical musical engine with a theme that rises with incessant force before spiraling away like a child spinning in a field. There's a joyful spirit here residing beneath the weight of the world. CrimeDog is a real barn burner, a Bluegrass jam with a contemporary feel that will make you want to get up and dance.

Hamhock's Razor is an active and interesting piece, heavy in musical complexity but built around the simplest of hooks. Occam himself would be quite pleased, both with the song and the word play. Perhaps the highlight of the album is Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2. MandoMorphosis' reading is brilliant, catching the full melancholic force of the composition. It's a thing of beauty for the ears. MandoMorphosis, the song, plays fast and loose with the inter-relationship of musical parts. There's a New Music feel here, where each individual "voice" being heard is more important than how they necessarily work together. Another personal favorite comes on Out Of The Furnace And Into The Fire; which could be the soundtrack to a Grog-fueled kitchen party. Try and sit still. Just try.

The only song on 2010 with a vocal line is Nero's Fiddle, and the vocal line essentially becomes inconsequential in light of the instrumental work (a shame, because the vocal is quite well sung). The mandolin creates the angst and ardor of a world falling down around itself while drawing from a well of sounds cooked in the Far East. The violin plays on blissfully unaware while producing its placid counter-melody. Ghostown is a distinct turnaround, losing focus, direction and theme before the midpoint of the song. The fact that this is all by design makes it no less difficult to hear. MandoMorphosis steps back one hundred years or so for Ed, a Southwest flavored serene theme with hints of a real Pop melody woven throughout. 2010 concludes with Cascadia Raga, a ten minute-plus track that waxes and wanes between Raga and Bluegrass, occasionally entwining the two styles into a hybrid that's as hard to imagine as it is to walk away from.

MandoMorphosis isn't your typical Mandolin collective (if the world typical can even be applied to such). The musical tastes and inherent curiosities of the musicians involved lead them down twisty, strange and sometimes dark roads. Not every trip is a treat, and there are a couple of dead ends along the way, but on the whole 2010 is an experience to grow on. I highly recommend 2010 for its varied musical styles and approaches, creativity and overall sound. MandoMorphosis has done very well for themselves.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about MandoMorphosis at http://www.mandomorphosis.com/. You can purchase 2010 as either a CD or Download from CDBaby.com.

Review: ANewDay – Summer Reflections

ANewDay – Summer Reflections
2009, ANewDay/SOCAN

ANewDay is Cape Breton native Rob Miller on piano and Prince Edward Island native Ron Huestis on orchestration. Miller is a classically trained pianist who incorporates elements of Pop, Rock, Folk and Celtic into his compositions. Huestis is a veteran of Canada’s East Coast music scene, working with such august artists as Ian Creighton and Steve Negus. ANewDay’s second album, Summer Reflections, passes boundaries and genres normally prescribed for ANewDay.

Anewday opens with Summer Rush, reminding me of David Foster's more Pop oriented work. Summer Rush features a Pop theme that's cinematic in scope and falls under the short and sweet category. Reverie is a sweet and lyric composition that is made by the orchestration. Solstice is my favorite track on the disc. Hints of Chopin are evident in a song that straddles the Classical/Country divide in a fashion that's exceedingly odd and interesting. Celtic Farewell is interesting insofar as there's nothing about that really suggests it relates to Celtic music at all. Place Of Solitude is a pretty piece with a lilting, sweet melody.

I heard hints of John Tesh's early popular work in Future Beginning. The essence here is sound rather than composition in a work that is pleasant but doesn't seem to have real lasting significance. Astronomical Convolutions made me chuckle, seeming to echo flashes of the melody line from Irene Cara's Flashdance at various points throughout, almost as if it were an abstract variation on the theme. The song itself is modern and vaguely regal in effect and is actually quite the interesting listen. Solar Moons has a martial, perhaps even clockwork feel to it. I didn't enjoy this as much as it seems to rely too heavily on the mechanical and too little on the emotional/spiritual. Revival is along the same lines, having a mechanical, artificial feel to the energy and rhythm of the song. Anewday closes out with Whispering Streams, a Lloyd-Webberian theatrical piece that's big in presentation but stylistically bland.

Over time we've drawn a lot of solo-piano submissions. Summer Reflections is neither the best nor the worst, but somewhere in the middle. When the orchestration is at its best, it seems to challenge the piano and lift the whole game of Anewday. Otherwise things tend to get a little flat at times and perhaps even a bit derivative. There are some nice moments here (Reverie, Astronomical Convolutions, Summer Rush) but much of the album is simply decent. If you're looking for new-age styled dinner music with a modern Pops touch, the Anewday's Summer Reflections is right up your alley.

Rating: 2.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about ANewDay at http://www.anewday.ca/. You can purchase a copy of Summer Reflections from CDBaby.com.

Review: Michael Samson - A Still Motion

Michael Samson - A Still Motion
2008, Michael Samson/BMI

You might call Michael Samson something of an existential philosopher. Seeking a blend of metaphysics and aesthetics in his piano play and compositions, Samson tackles the juxtapositions of our inner and outer lives on his sophomore album, A Still Motion. Based on a concept that all things are inter-connected and can affect one another, albeit indirectly, Samson explores the theoretical and practical implications of these ideas in music. Formerly a graphic designer, Samson has turned his life over to music, inspired by such artists as Suzanne Ciani, George Winston, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and David Lanz (not to mention Chopin, DeBussey, Beethoven and Satie).

Leading off with the title track, Samson sets a tone that runs through Pop and New Age circles with relatively simplistic compositions built on contrasting rhythms between the left and right hand. Dream Not Of Today has a memorable melody line, although it never really seems to develop a full melody, but rather a thematic progression that repeats without significant variation or coloring. Samson does bring some harmonic elements into the right hand but this is more akin to window dressing than variation. Echoes For The Stanger has its own singular beauty, built on musically aesthetic turns and a halting right hand that builds tension in the composition. The darkness in much of the song resolves with about a minute to go, quickly to resume, much like the sun peaking out for just a moment on an overcast day.

Truth In Beauty speaks to the central conceit of the album, and perhaps one of the most argued points in the poetry of John Keats (Ode To A Grecian Urn): "Beauty is truth, truth beauty." Some might argue that this means that the form, the simple fact of any one thing (such as a Grecian urn) is its truth, and therefore its beauty. Applying that here, Samson may well argue that it's not so much the finished product, or song, that is either truth or beauty; it's the by-product of both. Truth and beauty are actually found in Samson's discovery of the song, which has probably existed time immemorial until Samson came along and found it. You might experience the same in discovering his interpretation of the song, but this is where the entire argument may just fall into a puttering heap and slinks off to the pub. What is evident is that no great revelation is found in Truth In Beauty; the composition is nice doesn't turn heads. When Light Dances, on the other hand, as a dramatic sense to it that might make it perfect for the cinema. Some volatility worked itself into Samson's creative process here and the result is absolutely delightful.

The Edge Of Forever and Where Ocean Meets Sky are both pleasant dalliances in the modern pop new age sound that moves units in mall stores. Of Times Long Past is a bit more ambitious, creating a mood of dark tension and seeming to tell a story (or at least trying to). Scene of 1800's England kept flooding to mind during this song, which plods along at its own pace and never fully resolves the tension that exists between left and right hand (this is part of the draw of the song). After The Rain is a somewhat mundane and long-winded penultimate track, leading into Words Left Unspoken, a halting and languorous close to an album that definitely has its highs and lows.

My gut reaction to A Still Motion is that it was a musically intellectual experience. Samson is a very good technical piano player, able to color and shade his music with all the changes in volume, speed and intensity you can imagine, but I didn't feel the artist behind it. Samson seems to have dug so far for answers in his compositions that he's left out the most essential part of the experience; his heart. Passages that should be emotional and effecting play flat; moments that should soar simply waver on the precipice of the wind but never take flight. This is one of those albums I wanted to like but never quite got there. Samson can do a lot with a piano; he can make a lot of pretty sounds and dark sounds and light sounds and string them together in interesting ways. But the glue is missing from this one.

Rating: 2 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Michael Samson at http://www.michaelsamson.com/, where you can buy A Still Motion in practically any format you might desire.

Review: Matthew LaBarge - October

Matthew LaBarge - October
2009, Cynelic Gast Music

Matthew LaBarge is a composer and pianist who is also periodically an engineer in his professional life. At the age of 28 he quit his engineering job to study composition full time with composer John Hilliard. Daily piano lessons and lessons in composition turned him into a composer and pianist of considerable skill. Alas, the money he'd saved from his Engineering days ran out and LaBarge returned to the workforce, but continued to pursue music as he could. Fourteen years later LaBarge returned to music full time with the idea of rebuilding his technique, vowing to not write new music during that time. The muse never listens to the plans of men however, and LaBarge was inspired to write The Wedding Waltz for his soon to be fiancée. When she said yes, Leaves Dancing was born in celebration, and the songs just kept coming. The culmination of LaBarge's disciplinary shortfall is an album of inspired compositions called October, released in August of 2009.

LaBarge breaks the silence between himself and listeners with First Light, a gently cascading piano piece that grows through tentative half steps just like the first touch of morning light, spreading into Sunrise. Sunrise mixes the tentative gestures of a waking world, using legato passages to suggest the coming of light like the ebb of the tides. It's a gorgeous piece done in a slow, relentless crescendo. Wedding Waltz is the song that started this odyssey, and is full of all the love and hope you might imagine. Leaves Dancing is the piece that leapt from LaBarge in response to Shawn's saying "Yes". It has something of an old-time feel, like something from the score of a classic romantic film (and from listening to Leaves Dancing I wouldn't be surprised to learn that LaBarge counts Randy Newman amongst his influences).

From a potential modern influence we progress to a classical one on Prelude (Ever After), where Chopin's ghost haunts the theme and structure. Song (Kids Playing) could easily be interlude music for a Peanuts cartoon, particularly one of the segments involving Snoopy's misadventures. Cold Wind has a baroque feel to it, like something you might have heard in a parlor in Europe in the seventeenth century. Over Such Beauty takes a grand cinematic theme and allows it to evolve over nearly six minutes. The progressions and regressions here have a deeply organic feel, and you can almost imagine a plot line this composition could not so much sit behind as run through. Never So Many Colors and The Sun Sets Earlier Now are both gentle, rolling compositions you'll want to check out, and lead into the closing number, Love Song. Love Song is a brief but classic theme full of a simple beauty you won't be able to resist. LaBarge has created a fair amount of magic thus far, but saves his best for last.

Matthew LaBarge should try not to write more often. The results of this last experiment are nothing short of spell-binding. There are a whole host of instrumental piano albums out there marketed under the New Age genre, but LaBarge seriously leans more towards a classical approach to composition, with more than just a touch of cinematic flair. This is not an album for background listening; not something over which you make polite dinner conversation. You can relax with Matthew LaBarge, but really listening to October is a moving musical and cognitive experience. Whatever the month, it's a good time to get into October.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Matthew LaBarge at http://www.matthewlabarge.com/. Currently, the only way to get October is through mail order directly from LaBarge, which you can initiate here. LaBarge’s website indicates the disc and downloads will soon be available from both CDBaby.com and iTunes.

Review: David Wahler – Antiquus

David Wahler – Antiquus
2009, Darius Productions

David Wahler discovered at the age of seven that he could play piano. With no lessons and no experience at the keyboard, Wahler found that he could recreate songs from church or the radio on the piano as easy as inhaling and exhaling. Years of training and performance helped Wahler polish his craft until he found himself serving as a composer and music director for Off-Broadway productions in New York City. Returning to his home base of Chicago, Wahler continued to perform with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and New American Theater. Wahler took a couple of professional turns, both successful, but never found the satisfaction he found in music. Wahler treats his talent as a gift and aims to share his love of music with the world around him. Wahler's debut CD, Antiquus, has roots and influences in music by Gabriel Faure, Eric Satie, Scarlatti, Stravinsky, Chopin and Rimsky-Korsakov as well as modern works by Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Kitaro and Liz Story.

Antiquus opens with the title track, an ethereal, dreamlike composition in the same vein as some of John Tesh's more popular work. A lovely piece where the theme is trade back and forth between piano and various synth sounds. Delphi takes an Eno-esque turn, delving into a vibrant, staccato electronic crown with deep currents running beneath. Kyoto Mist introduces a Japanese-influenced coat around a Windham Hill style theme. The sparse nature of this composition carries with it a singular beauty and a significant risk, as it sounds not dissimilar from the sort of music you might hear on nature CDs found in specialty stores in your local mall. From the mundane to the memorable, Wahler sinks into Apollo's Lyre with a melody for the ages; simple, noble; beautiful. Wahler reaches cinematic heights on Teresa. There's a feeling of time and place to this track that belies the simple musical narrative of the melody. The occasional voiceover aside (which frankly is more distracting than anything), this is a beautiful composition.

Hyacinthus draws on vague Native American musical sounds mixed into New Age piano and synth overlays and a virtual chorus of angels providing vocal support. The "violin" (synth) line here provides illumination, as if it were the sun itself set aloft into the sky and climbing ever higher. The melody here is gorgeous although it does get a bit too cyclical at times. Lune Mysterieuse has a fairly generic sound that is pleasant but won't stick in your mind for too long, whereas Angelis is dripping with a drama and tension that is theatrical. Over the course of six-and-a-half minutes, Angelis resolves tension with rambling, contemplative passages that work their way back and forth from tension to peace without ever resting. This ambivalence of place leads to the closing track, Ancient Dawn, which recedes ever so slowly into the distance and passes into the inaudible ether in its closing seconds.

David Wahler walks a fine line between commercial New Age and composing meaningful music that people will want to hear, not simply be lulled by. While there are definite lulling moments on Antiquus, the material offered here is a bit too good to simply be mood or background music. Some of the effect choices (particularly the one-word, ethereal voiceovers) waste some of the overall effect of the music, but on the whole Antiquus is top notch. I highly recommend you spend some time David Wahler if your interests run to New Age and/or Modern Classical music.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about David Wahler at http://www.davidwahler.com/ or www.myspace.com/davidwahler. You can purchase Antiquus as either a CD or download through CDBaby.com.

Ronda Matson - Truth Be Told

Ronda Matson - Truth Be Told
2008, Ronda Matson

Ronda Matson is one of those performers who put music on hold as life intervened. Marriage, children, and a business all took precedence over time, although Matson continued to write and play in private. Inspired the music of her youth, everything from Mozart and Chopin to Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel, Matson puts wisdom from her life experiences in song to share with anyone who will listen. Her growing legion of fans in New England know what you're about to find out, Ronda Matson it the deal deal. Truth Be Told is Matson's second release, a follow-up to 2006's The First Seven, an EP originally created as a gift for friends that got such a positive reaction she turned it into a commercial release.

Truth Be Told opens with Weight, which sounded suspiciously like 4-Non Blondes' What's Up in the introduction, but opens up into a very powerful and original composition that tracks in at nearly eight minutes. The song is about getting dragged down by the pressures and events that life throws at you sometimes, and is written from a sad perspective that avoids being hopeless. Bonny Call is a song Matson wrote for her daughters, encouraging them to never give up on their dreams. The song is very sweet and has Celtic overtones. Truth Be Told is something of an anti-love song. It's well-written and carries a lot of emotional weight.

Blind is one of the true highlights of the disc, with Matson doing both lead and harmony vocals so convincingly is sounds like two different vocalists, helping Blind soar with an Indigo Girls-style intensity. The song also has a pretty decent pop hook to it which makes it eminently listenable. The World Turns Round is a sweet song that finds Matson in a more optimistic place than on much of the first half of Truth Be Told. It's a song of memory and love that's definitely worth hitting the replay key a few times. In The Day is a song about remembering your own fights and foibles as you watch your children go through the same things, and mourning the fact that most people forget what it was really like. It's an extremely well-written and wise song and worth the price of admission on its own.

There are some strong compositions here, and there's no doubt that Matson is a heartfelt performer, but the presentation is often very heavy to the point of smothering. Matson has a depth of life experience and is very wise as a lyricist, but couches overly descriptive lyrics into somewhat repetitive, traditional-style folk arrangements, creating a listening experience that's somewhat monochromatic and elongated beyond listen patience. This doesn't happen on every track, but it happens often enough to have the potential to turn off some listeners. An artist in the same vein is RJ Cowdery, but Cowdery has learned to temper her descriptive tendencies and sprinkle them with wit. Matson will have her devotees, and does display a certain talent for story-telling, but economy of words is key.

Rating: 2.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Ronda Matson at http://www.rondamatson.com/ or www.myspace.com/rondamatson. You can purchase a copy of Truth Be Told at www.cdbaby.com/cd/rondamatson2.

Review: Dan Freedman - Art Attack

Dan Freedman - Art Attack
2008, Four Hearts Music

Prodigal Sons always return home. So it is with Dan Freedman, who returns to his roots as a jazz pianist after 20 years as a software entrepreneur. Showing how close a musician always stays to their music, it took nothing more than an early 2008 concert performance by Hiromi Uehara to throw Freedman a musical headwind that would turn his life once more to music. Born in London, England, Freedman has a weekly slot on BBC Brighton as "Dan The Piano Man" at eleven years of age. After moving to Canada with his family, Freedman majored in jazz piano performance on his way to completed both bachelors and masters degrees in computer science (hence the 20 year detour). Based now in Honolulu, HI, Freedman was so moved by the performance of Uehara that he began playing again the next day. By the end of 2008, he'd already recorded his debut album, Art Attack. Freedman has plans for two more albums in 2009, and I think it's safe to say that he's not looking back.

Freedman's press materials say his greatest influences are Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. It's very evident on first listen to Art Attack that the jazz spirits of Peterson and Evans inform Freedman's musical consciousness. Freedman takes the impressionist style and runs with it on Art Attack. As with impressionist pianists this can be both a good and not so good thing at times. Freedman finds moment of musical glory embedded in the eight covers and two originals on Art Attack, but also finds moments where the impressions pile up too high upon one another and drown each other out. On balance, the passages and songs that work far outweigh what does not.

Art Attack opens with On Green Dolphin St., a classic played in trio form (piano, drums, bass). It's an egalitarian recording where no one instrument really is subservient to others, like a musical talk show where the instruments converse. There's an Bill Evans vibe that's evident in a relaxed reading of time signatures and the willingness to bend and shape melody lines into pretzels before returning them as they were, unharmed. Freedman pays tribute to Evans on Very Early, re-imagining the Chick Corea/Hiromi Uehara version in a style almost reminiscent of Vince Guaraldi.

Sweet Georgia Brown left me a little bit lost. The Maceo Pinkard classic is performed here as a piano duet, and ultimately that is just too much. The impressionist approach combined with a second piano in duet creates a bit of musical mayhem that was just too much for this listener. Chopsticks is a jaunty series of riffs on classic piano exercise that transforms into, among other things, Rhapsody In Blue along the way. This sounds like it was a lot of fun to play; the sort of divine inspiration that comes when a musician lets themselves have fun with the music.

The absolute highlight of the disc is Freedman's interpretation of Oscar Peterson's Wheatland for bass and piano. Freedman takes us through the gentle ebb and flow of Peterson's creation with a contrapuntal left hand and a minimalist bass line. Wheatland gets to breathe its own metaphysical melody in an inspired performance. Freedman gives an interesting turn next on The Beatles' Michelle, taking the Lennon/McCarthy classic off the pins of rock music and re-inventing it as classical/jazz hybrid. Freedman focuses on dynamic development throughout the song in moving from an almost Chopin presentation to Van Clyburn before falling back to the melodic heart of the song trailing the acoustic waters from whence it originally arose.

Laughing Child is a Dan Freedman original, and in some ways just doesn't belong on this album. Laughing Child is a pop song at heart with a vocal line that cries out of the piano for a singer and words. Laughing Child could migrate to either Adult Contemporary Pop or Broadway without much difficulty, and serves as a hint regarding the diversity and breadth of writing/performing talent that Freedman possesses. Art Attack closes with the surreal and rhythmic Marimba piece Lives At Stake. Lives At Stake sounds like something that might have shown up in session tapes for an early Pink Floyd album.

Dan Freedman comes home to music after twenty years in the corporate professional realm with an inspired debut album in Art Attack. While there are moments that don't work as well as other, the effort on the whole is very much worth your time. Mixing the influences of Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Brad Mehldau and others with unique and daring choices about structure, timing and harmony, Freedman takes chances that mostly work while giving us a hint of how broad a swath he might cut musically. With two more albums planned for 2009, this could just be the warm-up. A definite must for impressionist jazz fans, jazz piano fans, jazz-inflected pop fans, or people who enjoy an artist who can take you anywhere at any moment for any reason.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Dan Freedman or purchase a copy of Art Attack at http://www.dan88.com/. You can also pick up a copy at www.cdbaby.com/cd/danfreedman.

Review: Jack Conte - Sleep In Color

Jack Conte - Sleep In Color
2008, Shadow Tree

San Francisco’s Jack Conte is either on the edge of the next wave of popular music or an eclectic, one of a kind phenomenon. Conte is one of the pioneers of VideoSongs, a mash up of live performance and music video that has become something of a tour-de-force on sites such as YouTube. Conte has two VideoSongs on YouTube that have combined for 1.3 million views. One is a mashup of Radiohead and Chopin, the other a mashup of Aphex Twin and Bright Eyes. There's no lip-synching or pretending to play over tracks. The sound is live and verifiable, the format unique to ever developing capabilities of the World Wide Web, and Conte is at the forefront. Building on this wave of excitement, Conte will release a new EP in January of 2009 entitled Sleep In Color. Sleep In Color is built from a marriage of classic instruments with modern sounds. Electronic/organic creations utilized synthesizers in addition to a World War II era accordion, an upright piano from the gold rush days, a glockenspiel, a '72 Wurlitzer Organ, a '74 Hammond Organ, drums and analog guitar effects. You have to hear this to believe it.

Conte appears to be taking pop songwriting and working it to the point of sonic/cognitive dissonance. Hollywood Endings starts out as a down-tempo pop piece with a strangely drawing melody built in minor keys. Conte’s voice is enigmatic and strange and very interesting to listen to, but all of the production and effects built around what is essentially a solid pop/rock composition become messy and hard to listen through. Likewise Like A Match. The song is a competent one, but gets lost in all of the layers here. The biggest saving grace here is the U2-like chorus. The Greatest Hoax moves more towards a pure electronica composition but still overdoes itself with effects, beats and layers. Now That’s Sacred is perhaps the most stripped down of the songs on Sleep In Color. The same general tendency to overdo is here, but has been scaled back some to allow what is a really pleasant melody shine through. Sleep In Color closes out with Carousel Waltz, which ends up sounding like a carousel in a scary funhouse. The perspective is warped just enough to make something comfortable and safe into something you’re not sure of.

Jack Conte appears to be a talented composer/musician. My sense is that there is a tendency for Conte to want to do too much to the songs he envisions. This creates finished products that are overdone or become harder to hear for all of the embellishments. Sleep In Color has a couple of bright moments, and shows real promise as a writer. You can’t be faulted for trying too hard.

Rating: 2.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Jack Conte at www.myspace.com/jackconte. You can check out Jack Conte's videosongs at www.youtube.com/jackcontemusic. You can purchase a copy of Sleep In Color at www.cdbaby.com/contejack3.