Search - Jerry Read Smith & Lisa Marie Smith :: One Wintry Night

One Peaceful,Wintry Night!

Kathy Benton | Gainesville, FL USA | 12/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD has become the first thing I pull out of the Rubbermaid storage boxes after Thanksgiving. Put it on in the house and in the car(especially when you get stuck in traffic!). The soothing, refreshing arrangements of familiar carols and hymns (all instrumental pieces, mainly dulcimer and flute) will transport you to a cozy hearth with an Appalachian Mountain view where all the shopping is already done, the house is full of delicious smells and all that remains to be done is to soak in what the holiday is supposed to be about-the love of God and the people that we love... Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little about the CD, but it really is wonderful and it's a great companion to a good BOOK. It is nice music to read by! Buy the CD by Smith and the children's book (which adults will enjoy too, with its lovely art work and good story) by Ruth Graham. Snuggle up together and see if it doesn't take the edge off this crazy time of year and lead you back to the reason for the season!"

Refreshingly new interpretations of holiday favorites!

Brianna Neal | USA | 12/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

""One Wintry Night" offers sweet, stirring and heartfelt improvisations inspired by the book of the same title by author Ruth Bell Graham. Hammered-dulcimer player Jerry Read Smith and his flutist wife Lisa Maria are joined by prolific New Age artists Jeff Johnson and Brian Dunning in these rich, multitextured improvisations on traditional carols. The arrangements are by the Smiths, but Johnson's ambient keyboards leave their mark as well, as this album has more of a New Age feel to it than much of Read Smith's earlier work. Dunning plays his trademark pennywhistle as well as accordion, and a host of other musicians also contribute, including Geraldine Murray on a second pennywhistle, Tim Ellis on guitars and tiple, percussionists Roger Hadley and Gregg Williams, and three quarters of a string quartet. Jerry and Lisa Maria also take a few turns on bowed psalteries, instruments that are perfectly suited to the equi-metered notes of such pieces as "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" and "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming". While all the selections on this CD are superb, I'd have to say my favorite is "The Storm"--intense, moving and one of the three original compositions by Jerry. "One Wintry Night" is a fine piece of work and makes for great listening, whether played for Christmas or at any other time of year! For more work by the Smiths, check out "The Strayaway Child Trilogy", and for that of Johnson and Dunning, try one of their most recent releases, "Byzantium: The Book of Kells and St. Aidan's Journey". There are also two other artists whose work this album reminds me of--in radically different ways, but the heart and spirit that shine through are much the same, and they both offer Christmas albums. They are harpist Lisa Lynne, who specializes in gentle improvisations for strings and flutes too, and carilloneur Frank DellaPenna of Cast in Bronze, who enhances the bells of a portable carillon with modern accompaniments."

One Wintry Night

The Lunar Staff | Hee Haw Land, KS | 11/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Track List:



1. We Three Kings

2. Epiphany

3. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman

4. One Wintry Night

5. Carol of the Bells

6. Marble Halls

7. Little Drummer Boy

8. I Shall Arise/Bring a Torch/Jeannette/Isabella

9. Pachelbel's Canon in D

10. The Storm

11. Lo, How a Rose E'er Bloooming

12. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

13. Good Christian Men, Rejoice

14. Silent Night

"