Jazz

Liz Story Solid Colors

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Rate this torrent +  |  -

Torrent info

Torrent Files List

Torrent description

Liz Story - Solid Colors
1983

Noteworthy as the first CD I ever purchased in January of 1985. Still plays (and rips) like a charm.

Story studied classical piano while growing up in Southern California and even thought about becoming a music librarian or theorist for a while. Then she heard jazz pianist Bill Evans at a New York club, and the experience changed her perspective on music overnight. Story, who had studied at Juilliard and was enrolled at Hunter College at the time, abandoned her academic program in favor of jazz lessons with Sanford Gold, a teacher Evans had recommended. Back in Los Angeles, she continued her musical education at UCLA and the Dick Grove Music Workshops, but it was a job playing piano at a French restaurant that sparked her major breakthrough as a composer. Since the front casing of the piano was missing, Story had no place to put her sheet music and was forced to improvise freely. Eventually, she put some of her spontaneous compositions on tape and sent them to Windham Hill. Within four days, Will Ackerman had called her back and the contract was signed for her first release, Solid Colors, an album of impressionistic piano miniatures. Over the course of five recordings, including a two-album stint with RCA Novus, Story's style has expanded to include electronic duets with Mark Isham and works for various types of ensembles, yet the piano remains the prominent voice in her finely crafted compositions.

1. Wedding Rain
2. Pacheo Pass
3. Without You
4. Hymn Listen
5. Things With Wings
6. Solid Colors
7. Bradley's Dream
8. White Heart
9. Water Caves
10. Peace Piece

Story's remarkable 1983 debut is the intellectual sister of Winston's December--a discursive series of solo piano improvisations that draw on the rich jazz harmony of pioneers like Bill Evans, Story's acknowledged chief inspiration. Yet Colors is almost minimalist next to Evans's more densely textured works--a spacious blend of polychords, breezy runs, and finely timed sustenutos, with an accessible spirit and memorable melodies--like the uplifting figure she plays over a simple descending bassline in "Hymn," or the indelible major-key main theme of "Things with Wings." More economical than Keith Jarrett, more florid and changeable than Winston, Story finds a compelling middle ground here between jazz harmony and classical technique, outside improv and sturdy songcraft, complex performance and inner stillness. -Amazon

With remarkable technical facility, tremendous feel, and a playful sense of musical progression, Liz Story proves a moving and fascinating pianist on her debut album. Intuitive yet intellectual, Story nevertheless has a strong sense of structure, and her quick, light playing always keeps things moving. AMG

related torrents

comments (0)