July 2009 Music Reviews
Spirit Romance; Songs for Sedona
Spirit Romance
Spirit Romance is a work of musical magic. It isn't brand new—pianist David Lanz has one newer album I'm aware of, but the music on Spirit Romance is so lush, so one-of-a-kind I can't resist sharing my enthusiasm with you.
The CD insert calls the music “Zen-like”—not without reason, as its beauty lies as much in the negative spaces between the sounds as in the sounds themselves. Still, the flavor is decidedly a mix of Eastern and Western, flutes and piano interlacing with violin, string bass and percussion to produce a tone of ecstatic intimacy and spiritual connection.
The first track opens with a tinkle of the ivories, and from there on it's pure heaven as flute and piano dance to weave a tonal tableau fit for royalty. Most of the music is reported to have been improvised at Lanz's house under the watchful eye of brother/producer Gary Lanz.
Lanz's piano wizardry is legendary, and few new age pianists have escaped his influence. His masterful use of the pause creates amazing texture. As for Stroutsos, the album features playing several flutes, but on most of the tracks he treats us to the deep and haunting voice of the Xiao flute, not often heard outside of China.
Multi-textured and rich enough, I believe, to serve as a movie soundtrack, Spirit Romance is a grand example of romantic musical interplay. I have listened to this album several times, and look forward to playing it again and again.
—Chiwah
Songs for Sedona
Oh, how I love the red rock country—especially Sedona, where I lived for eight years. During that time I had the good fortune to rub shoulders with many of Sedona's up-and-coming musicians, among them Alexander and Jesse. Now, years later, I couldn't be more pleased to bring you their latest collaboration, Songs for Sedona.
Strong and vibrant as a summer monsoon, soft and sweet as the trickle of the water over your toes at Red Rock Crossing, Songs for Sedona is a more than a musical masterpiece. It's an experiential landscape, offering full immersion into the many and varied aspects of life in this not-so-lazy high-desert new age and retirement mecca.
In the opening cut, “Storm is Coming,” you are there. In the gathering, in the beat of the drum, Jesse's bamboo flutes blending with Alexander's keyboards to bring on the clouds, the thunder and the showers, you are there—all the way to the gorgeous double rainbow overhead.
“Full Moon Drum Circle” brings memories of gatherings in the canyons and on Schnebley Hill.
We are treated to the sounds of Oak Creek in “Deep Water Meditation” and the light and airy “Children in Oak Creek.” By the time you get to the fourth cut, “Bright Bird in Sycamore Canyon,” you'd swear someone had changed CDs on you. But no, you're still in the red rocks. Uptown… in the snow on the red rocks… all the way to the haunting wrap-up in “Voices in the Canyon,” you are wrapped in the magic of the spirit of Sedona.
This is Alexander's third musical celebration of Sedona, where he has lived for two decades now. And Jesse's been there nearly as long. Together they have created an album vast in scope, cinematic in presentation, with a sound mix drawn from keyboards, guitars and nature. Jesse's flutes grace ten of the fifteen tracks, along with a variety of large and small drums.
“If this album conveys to you just a fragment of the beauty and mystery of Sedona, Jesse and I will have done something worthwhile,” Alexander writes.
A fragment? Yes, but oh, what a beautiful fragment. Such grace. This is an album to capture hearts for a very, very long time. If you love Sedona and you don't buy this album, my heart cries for you.
—Chiwah
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