Search - Scott Cossu :: She Describes Infinity

Hard To Label, Easy to Listen To

Marc Ruby? | Warren, MI USA | 12/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"More than once I've struggled with the difficulty of clearly differentiating when a musician's work is jazz, and when it is true New Age. Outside of the obvious cases of things like meditation music, where most often there are no hard edges at all, the definition is highly subjective. If 'She Describes Infinity' is New Age, it is at the other end of the spectrum entirely.



The more I listen to Scott Cossu's powerful (almost muscular) approach, the more I hear the jazz work behind its easy-to-listen-to exterior. It's in the tension of the music and in the harmonic interplay of the parts. He rarely repeats himself and his playing is complex, always exploring the capability of his instrument. If this is New Age, it is only so coincidentally.



Cossu's style is his own, but he is closest to Jordan Rudess, another keyboard player who is hard to define. As pieces like Bajun Carnival and Red Silk quickly demonstrate, Cossu carefully builds layers of improvisation that can take the listener to unexpected places. Highly rhythmic, with melody lines that rarely rest. The real exception to this is Arctic Hymn, which opens with a striding, chordal melody with only a few moments of variation, preserving a sacred space.



This is arguably the best Scott Cossu album - others that I like are Switchback and Wind Dance. The cuts are either solo piano or simple ensemble - piano and bass or piano and guitar. It's the kind of music that never seems dated or out of place."