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| 2.541 Ft
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| 1. | Never Never Land / Pure Imagination
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| 2. | Walking on the Moon
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| 3. | Summer Night
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| 4. | Gabrielle
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| 5. | Stage One
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| 6. | Prisoner of War
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| 7. | Psychic Warrior
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| 8. | The Safflower
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| 9. | Solo Piano Medley: You Won't Forget Me / Why Did I Choose You / Maturity from Cinema Paradiso
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Jazz / Mainstream Jazz
Recorded: Sep 24, 2000
Sarah Jane Cion - piano
Sarah Jane Cion's second Naxos Jazz release, Summer Night, continues to showcase her maturing lyricism and sophisticated jazz touch. As the title suggests perfectly, it captures her agile and graceful playing - like the best summer nights, it's both warm and comfortable.
With a fluid articulation that is derived as much from the lyrical spirit of Bill Evans and Chick Corea as her classical music training, the New England native's bouncy, textured playing perfectly complements her delightful original compositions.
With the ever masterful Michael Brecker and his indelible tenor sax providing the animated sparkle on two tunes - the title track as well the Cion original "Prisoner Of War" - Summer Night is a disc that is very easy to warm to. Ably supporting Cion here are also her husband, Phil Palombi, on bass and ace veteran drummer Billy Hart. Her CD ending medley comprising of "You Won't Forget Me," "Why Did I Chose You" and an Ennio Morricone composition from the movie Cinema Paradiso, is a perfect example of her refined solo playing.
From start to finish, Summer Night is a pleasure to listen to. And through the set, Cion never strays from a real musician's integrity. What she has crafted is a fine work of melodic, rhythmic and improvisational excellence.
A New England Conservatory graduate with honors and distinction in composition and performance, Cion had made a career excelling in these focal areas of her degree. Something of a prodigy, at age 14, she was already excelling as a classical piano student. Soon after deciding to pursue a music career in jazz, the accolades began.
In 1988, she was a Boston Jazz Society Award recipient. In 1991, she moved to New York City. She was a finalist in the 1997 John Lennon Song Writing contest. In 1999, Cion won the renowned Great American Jazz Piano Competition judged by luminaries like Kenny Barron, Benny Green, Horace Silver and Ellis Marsalis Jr. In 1999, she also participated in the prestigious Mary Lou Williams Women In Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center.
She has also been featured on the nationally syndicated NPR radio show Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland. Cion has also toured Germany, Japan, Portugal and Israel. Among the artists she has performed with include Clark Terry, Don Braden, Santi Debriano, Ron McClure, Dave Liebman and Lonnie Plaxico.
Cion made her Naxos Jazz debut in 2000 with Moon Song, winning critical raves across the world and, in particular, was a major hit in Japan. She is managed by Steve Getz, son of jazz tenor great Stan.
Sarah Jane Cion's Summer Night is a fine recording that echoes a "summer night" sentiment with its lighthearted smooth jazz compositions. Don't get the wrong idea, though -- this isn't smooth jazz; instead it's smooth jazz, relaxed piano reminiscent of Muzak, Mantovani, and particularly Andre Previn's beautiful music forays, but there's nothing kitschy about this recording -- this is the real deal. Just like much of the beautiful music before it, it was cheapened, thrown into the easy listening category, and compared, awfully, to Muzak, a mind- and productivity-enhancing music programmed around sleep cycles and the like. Sarah Jane Cion's band is tight, and for this recording she's using Phil Palombi on bass and Billy Hart on drums with a few guest spots by Michael Brecker on tenor sax. This is an excellent recording and one that manages to be entertaining, exciting, relaxing, and contemplative while at the same time not being derivative, phony, or overly glossy like much of the contemporary jazz out there. This is a highly rated recording. A fine work, indeed.
---Matt Borghi, allmusic |
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