Search - Harmonix Ensemble :: Ginko Biloba

The theory guiding the Herbal Harmonies Series, a three-disc assortment of recordings that (and this is not a joke) take their names from medicinal herbs, is that the tempos on each recording fall within a specific beat-per-minute parameter in order to evoke prescribed responses from listeners. On Ginkgo Biloba the objective is to elicit a "heightened state of alertness," an ambition that can be measured only by the ear (and mindset) of the beholder. Anyone who gives this a spin strictly for the music will encounter five selections (ranging from 6 to 21 minutes in length) that involve modest chamber-jazz compositions from unknown pianist Joseph Nagler and the Harmonix Ensemble (acoustic guitar, bass, drums, sax, flute, violin). Low-key and undistinguished, Nagler's music hovers in a netherworld between New Age and a noodling George Benson. You would be better off picking up a bottle of the herb itself, then sampling it while listening to something similarly pastoral, only with more substance and imagination. Suggestion: Try some early Will Ackerman, say, Passage. --Terry Wood