Name: Conversations With My Family [Digipak] *
Brand: Resonance
SKU: 809753
Price: 27.22 USD
Availability: InStock

Conversations With My Family [Digipak] *

Rating

Album: Conversations With My Family [Digipak] *
#	Song Title		Time
1)	The Child Within	More Info...	0:08
2)	Interlude	More Info...
3)	Lullaby for Our Daughters	More Info...	0:05
4)	Interlude	More Info...
5)	The Mystery and the Awe	More Info...	0:04
6)	Blues for the Terrible Twos	More Info...	0:05
7)	Interlude	More Info...
8)	Longings	More Info...	0:06
9)	Interlude	More Info...
10)	Trials and Revelations	More Info...	0:04
11)	Interlude	More Info...

Album: Conversations With My Family [Digipak] *
#	Song Title		Time
1)	The Child Within	More Info...	0:08
2)	Interlude	More Info...
3)	Lullaby for Our Daughters	More Info...	0:05
4)	Interlude	More Info...
5)	The Mystery and the Awe	More Info...	0:04
6)	Blues for the Terrible Twos	More Info...	0:05
7)	Interlude	More Info...
8)	Longings	More Info...	0:06
9)	Interlude	More Info...
10)	Trials and Revelations	More Info...	0:04
11)	Interlude	More Info...

Performer Notes

Composer: Mike Garson.
Personnel: Mike Garson (piano); Andreas ™berg (guitar); Christian Howes (violin); Lori Bell (flute); Claudio Roditi (trumpet, flugelhorn); Dave Carpenter, Bob Magnusson (bass instrument); Gary Novak (drums, drum); Peter Erskine (drums); Kuno Schmid.
Arrangers: Kuno Schmid; Mike Garson.
There are some myopic individuals in the jazz world who dislike any music that isn't straight-ahead acoustic jazz; they dislike rock, funk, and hip-hop as much as they dislike country. But there are also skillful musicians who can play jazz quite well but also have strong non-jazz credentials, and pianist/keyboardist/composer Mike Garson is one of them. Garson is best known in the rock world for his long association with David Bowie -- an association that is highly appropriate given Bowie's chameleonic nature and Garson's impressive ability to adapt to a variety of musical settings. Conversations with My Family, which is one of Garson's jazz-oriented projects, finds the veteran pianist working with arranger Kuno Schmid as well as trumpeter Claudio Roditi, violinist Chris Howes, guitarist Andreas ™berg, flutist Lori Bell, and bassist Bob Magnusson. Schmid doesn't provide all of the arrangements, but he provides a lot of them -- and Schmid's thoughtful, classical-influenced arrangements sometimes suggest Gil Evans, while Garson's acoustic pianism draws on the influence of another Evans: pianist Bill Evans. Albums that have as much arranging as Conversations with My Family can -- depending on who the arrangers are -- bury the main soloist and deprive him/her of solo space. But neither Schmid's arrangements nor Garson's arrangements allow Garson's piano to become buried or obscured; Garson still has plenty of room to stretch out -- and Roditi (one of the finest jazz trumpeters to come out of Brazil) gets in a few noteworthy solos as well. Working with Schmid is definitely advantageous for Garson on this worthwhile post-bop disc.~ Alex Henderson

Professional Reviews

Down Beat (p.66) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "Programmatically, it hangs together beautifully, with the connective tissue of many well-placed interludes, and works as a suite."