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Reviewers: Don Mather, Tony Augarde, Dick Stafford, John Eyles, Robert Gibson, Ian Lace, Colin Clarke, Jack Ashby



DEPTH OF EMOTION

FEATURING ED SAINDON & DAVE LEIBMAN

World Improvised Music WIM 1005

 

 




the last goodbye 7:14
the healing 5:27
green dolphin street 6:41
moon river 5:36
tokyo nights 8:08
giorgio’s theme 7:35
sao Paulo 5:59
alpine sunset 7:06
the healing (alt.take) piano solo
reflections 5:31
Piazzolla 2:55
joyful sorrow 2:43
silent serenity 2:41
18th’s child 2:05
life’s dreams 2:28

total time 72:55

dave liebman : soprano sax, indian flute
ed saindon : vibes, piano and marimba
david clark : acoustic bass
mark walker : drums

 

Ed Saindon is indisputably a virtuoso 4 mallet vibe player.
Brilliant playing, but alas, I am a sceptic and all the time I wondered,
"Could this magnificent vibe playing be transferred via a digital keyboard to something easier to play and yet sound the same on a CD?"
Well the answer to this naïve question will not tax the minds of anyone who has dabbled with electronic instruments and indeed the old Fender Rose keyboard of the Seventies springs unbidden to the aural memory.
But then, so do plastic pearls and bakelite tortoise-shell combs, - all of which endure as collectable items.
The differences between CDs and Live gigs enter the same parallel universe.
Once it’s on the CD it’s no longer jazz.
Or is it?
With Depth of Emotion we are listening to well controlled playing from everyone in the ensemble.
Dave Liebman’s soprano sax is beautifully in tune, and anyone who has chartered the progress of that intrinsically temperamental instrument must appreciate the skill and artistry on this disk.
The trouble with the music is that everything sounds too easy, too well planned and nicely balanced for a 3 hour take...
It is both extraordinarily "listenable" but at times strangely inhibited.
"On Green Dolphin Street" has had so many Jazz treatments that it takes courage to re-work this seminal tune. Consequently the listener seeks a new slant.
This version is nice, but like a minor card it falls into its pack of predecessors as a competent effort, as opposed to an ace trump of re-working.
"Moon River" is ironed out of its Waltz Tempo, to which one can only cry, "Shame" on the grounds that there are so few good Waltzes worth a Jazz work-out and "Moon River" still offers scope for enlargement within a slow waltz. It is only on the final recall of the tune that the haunting beauty of the theme is retrieved from a routine solo.
But the best bits of this CD are the non-standards.
Ed Saindon’s Music takes the restricting corsets off the ensemble and there are some lovely sounds that live up to the statement on the sleeve;
"The Music should hopefully take the listener to places filled with a wide range of moods, feelings and emotions."
Always technically splendid, that even with Liebman’s Indian flute the expressive qualities of the musicians’ intentions come at the listener with love and care.
And it is good to hear a tribute to that fine Tango-Man, Piazzolla.
If you think the final piano tracks are "fillers", just listen and enjoy without thinking you have been short-changed by the rest of the gang, because these solos are in their own way, little gems.

This is a, "Listen to a lot" CD, and if your friends have different tastes, you can always play it at a discreet level, but someone will discover how rewarding it is to really get immersed in such stuff.


Adrienne Fox

 

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