04/09/08
GO MEDIA
WAYNE HORVITZ GRAVITASQUARTET/One Dance Alone: Music that can’t be defined for people that don’t like to be pigeonholed by players that know how to roam the free range. Jazz and classical cats mix it up, but not in the 50s jazz/classical way and not in some contrived third stream way either. It’s music for the sake of music where four highly skilled players that can read each other and know their way around art without pretense just find a new style way to kick it. Classy music not really made for wine and cheese, this is a set for the sonic striver that wants to take the creativity they hear to the next level.
1571 (Songlines)
WAYNE HORVITZ & Sweeter Than the Day/Walk in the Dark: In which we find the piano man has many sides and lets them all show in good time, even it does take a while to come back from other facets. This outfit’s first since 2002, Horvitz shows his ‘mainstream’ side where the playing flows freely and the left side jazz good times roll. Creative music that doesn’t feel like work to listen to, this skilled pro never lets technique get in the way of making great music.
(www.WayneHorvitz.com)
HARMONIA MUNDI
SERGIO FIORENTINO/Plays Schumann: He recorded this in the mid 60s, died in the late 90s and unless you’re too hip for the room, you probably never heard of him. A worth while, beautifully composed set featuring small little pieces form the Schumann canon that is an impressionistic version of carnivals and children, all wonderfully played. Certainly a collectors delight, this is one serious piano cat that can make 20 fingers sound like an orchestra with his high degree of musicianship and technique. A well worth it reissue that classical piano fans will have a great time with.
5586 (APR)
AUSER MUSICI/Boccherini Flue Quintets op 19: Boccherini lived in the time of giants so his music might not be as well known today as it should be but with the help of the internet’s gaping maw, the six sonatas on this set ought to get new legs as they do a great job of showing off his skill as a composer. The ensemble here area group of highly skilled performers making this music sound easier to play that it really is. With such vast underpinnings, this is chamber music that’s fit to be played in a concert hall yet still feel intimate. Carlo Ipata, the flautist, and his gang, blend perfectly making this a quartet outing that well worth buying and flaunting to classical fans that think they’re hipper than thou. Wonderful music that it’s time to stop overlooking.
67646 (Hyperion)
TWO FOR THE SHOW MEDIA
BILL STEWART/Incandescence: You would have caught my attention just from having Larry Goldings on board but this off beat trio set has still more something extra going on. A drummer facing off against two keyboard, pros all, this set has a different kind of jazz energy than you’ve been used to up to now. Everybody pulls their weight on this set of Stewart originals and certainly, a good time is had by all.
3028 (Pirouet)
Volume 31/Number 161
April 9, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record