georgewinston
You are viewing stuff tagged with georgewinston.
You are viewing stuff tagged with georgewinston.
Fall: the time of year when the green life in trees explodes, painting the roads and rivers the brightest, most intense colors that deciduous life knows. It is with this exclamation point of yellow, orange, and red that the life of summer finally yields to oncoming winter. The annual metamorphosis of long days to short, leafy green to snow white, and blue skies to dirty gray is always a time of reflection for me. This year, though, as I watch the throbbing of life in the outdoor world turn a corner to a dormant state, I come upon a realization that is nothing earth-shattering, but nevertheless intensely personal: everything has its Fall.
How long have I been waiting to attend this concert? George Winston at Orchestra Hall. No mics, no CD scratches, no speakers between us and the music … simply a wooden soundboard vibrating and filling a holiday concert hall. Years. Mykala and I went the Monday before Christmas, parked in the cold parking garage and proceeded to the elevator to get to the skyway. There was a small group waiting, and one member of it hit the down button. The doors opened, but the group simply stared. I advanced a bit, looked in the empty elevator doors, and hesitated, not wanting to violate the laws of common courtesy. Then, with a lazy “ding” the doors slid shut again. I scratched my head and turned around to a Mykala who was beside herself laughing. It must have been an odd sight, to see the door open, and me peer in, only to become confused as the doors shut again. Eventually, though, we made it into the concert hall and took our seats in the 24th row.
This will be the first album recommendation I have made based on … almost no exposure to an album. This little disc, Everyone Is Here, has a single called “Won’t Give In,” which is available on iTunes as a part of a three-song download. Unfortunately, I do not have iTunes and do not have the time to grab it, so I am sitting here hoping Cities 97 will play this song again for New Music Monday. It was just one of those songs that grabbed me. Traveling 70 miles an hour eastbound on I94 with the windows open, some subtle nuance of the tune grabbed my eardrums and told them “this is something special.” Then again, I am suggesting you buy a compact disc based on 30 seconds of hearing bits and pieces of one song from it. This means either the song is so amazing that 30 seconds of it filtered through traffic causes melodic brain convulsions, or I am utterly misguided and should be doing better things during the driving task.
George Winston’s Newest Album is very good
I’m writing this article as I am listening to RealAudio clips of George Winston’s newest CD. Having heard a lot of his work, I am happy to say this album lives up to the high quality of Winston’s piano playing. I’ll let Windham Hill do the talking: