Album Review: Day Dream from Alan Pasqua

-

Album:  Day Dream
Artist:  Alan Pasqua
Label:  Self-Released
Website:  https://alanpasqua.com

A Steinway Piano artist, Alan Pasqua's music flows with the ease of rolling waters cutting a stream along a rock's edge.  The delicacy of his playing on his latest CD Day Dream can quiet squawking doves, calm a hungry mountain lion, or soothe a savage beast.   The willowy resonance of his keys will put audiences in a trance, eager to be swept up by the lulling temperament of his performance.

Day Dream is an appropriate title for the idyllic movements in his phrases.  Tracks like "Old Cape Cod" and "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning/Smile" are laden with caressing strokes in Pasqua's keys, seguing into the brooding petting of the keys along "Polka Dots And Moonbeams," pervading a sense of loneliness and loss in the atmosphere.  Conversely, the twinkling notes of Pasqua's keys on "Upper Manhattan Medical Group" radiate an elation that is magnetizing.  His reflections, which he transcribes into the keys, emote a daydreamy state of mind that speaks to the human soul.

A world-renowned pianist and composer, Alan Pasqua's massive breadth of work has served him well, enabling him to cultivate his talent and make a blissful recording like Day Dream.   A compilation of some of Pasqua's favorite classical standards in addition to a few hidden gems, his performance brings out the mellifluous characteristics of these songs.  His interpretations of these standards pervade an intimacy with audiences that is magnetic.  Recorded on Pasqua's Hamburg Steinway concert grand piano in his Los Angeles studio, his endeavor honors these compositions and their artists.

Musicians:
Alan Pasqua - piano


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Album Review: This Could Be The Start from Linda Purl

-
Image
Album: This Could Be The Start Artist:  Linda Purl Label: Reaching Records Website:  https://www.lindapurl.com Vocalist Linda Purl and her music director Tedd Firth come together for their fourth album, This Could Be the Start .  The collection contains Purl's reimagination of a handful of jazz standards, tailored to her vocal specifications.  Supported by an intimate cadre of musicians that include bassist David Finck, drummer Ray Marchica and reed player Nelson Rangell, Purl finesses a selection of Great American Songbook jewels with a contemporary sheen. The playful merengue rhythm driving "Blue Moon," a swinging romp written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, is trussed in Ray Marchica's percolating percussion and a profusion of jutting keys performed by Ted Firth.  The track steps out of the customary schematics of swing jazz bolstered by blues vocals and articulates a Latin-imbued tremor.  The bossa nova curves shaping one of Cole Porter's signature pieces,
Read more

Album Review: The Ways In from James Zollar

-
Image
Album:  The Ways In Artist:  James Zollar Label:  Label: JZAZ Records Websites:  https://www.rsberkeley.com/james-zollar https://www.discogs.com/artist/954763-James-Zollar https://wyntonmarsalis.org/personnel/detail/james-zollar A straight-ahead jazz oeuvre, The Ways In from bandleader and trumpet player James Zollar resumes a quest where pioneers of the trumpet's sympathetic vibrations like Clifford Brown and Bill Coleman left off.  Zollar shows audiences the delightful, melodious tone of the trumpet, moving in harmony with an array of brass, woodwinds, and rhythm instruments. The robust wails of Zollar's trumpet strutting languidly along "Do Nothing 'till You Hear From Me" emotes an enduring personable trait, unwavering persistence in the face of being dejected.  The recording switches to a joyful atmosphere in "Swing Spring" with jangly beats from percussionist Chembo Corniel, interfacing with the buoyant ripples generated by Michael Rorby's trom
Read more

Album Review: Globetrotter from Luca di Luzio

-
Image
Album:  Globetrotter Artist:  Luca di Luzio Label:  Self-Released Website:  www.lucadiluzio.it   Guitarist Luca di Luzio's upcoming CD, Globetrotter  is an assortment of contemporary jazz tunes bridging funk, blues, soul, and Latin music.  Comprised of a few jazz standards and a handful of original works written by Luca di Luzio, a prolific guitar player who studied different styles of music, the recording expresses his personal vision of jazz guitar based on melody and groove.  Joining Di Luzio in his vision are bass guitarist Jimmy Haslip, drummer Dave Wecki, keyboardist George Whitty, and saxophonists Max Ionata and Alessandro Fariselli. From dance-funk numbers like "Jazzlife" and "Elisir" to the soft billows and reflective moods projected in "Smile" and " Buena Suerte," Di Luzio's artistry stems from his vision to make music that is aesthetically pleasing.  "Sunshower," a tune written by Kenny Barron, is a pr
Read more