Search - Armen Donelian :: Wave: Great Ideas 1

A Feast for the Ears, Mind, and Spirit

Julia Bassett | Norwich, VT United States | 11/02/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording deserves an accessible location in the collection of the jazz keyboard gourmand, as it is a banquet of at once subtle and yet great proportions. Grounding the listener with a familiar tune as the basis for each selection, Armen Donelian takes you on a unique promenade suggested by the lyric, mood, and experience he had at that moment.The listener is struck with the powerful musical intellect behind this set of piano improvisations, but Donelian does not use harmonic complexity as a blunt instrument, rather as an invitation to a great conversation. Achingly beautiful melodies over spry riffs and luxurious voicings such as these deserve to be really listenend to, but are just as likely to be appreciated simultaneously with other tasteful activities.Armen Donelian's new recording gives one the impression that he was genuinely compelled to create these recordings, and that may just be what the title suggests."