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| The Nearness of You - Arbors Piano Series, Volume 19 |
| Shelly Berg |
| első megjelenés éve: 2009 |
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| (2009)
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CD |
| 4.401 Ft
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| 1. | My Fair Lady Medley: Show Me/I've Gtown Accustomed to Her Face/On the S
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| 2. | Like a Lover
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| 3. | The Touch of Your Lips
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| 4. | The Nearness of You
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| 5. | Guys and Dolls Medley: Guys and Dolls/I've Never Been in Love Before/If
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| 6. | My One and Only Love
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| 7. | Con Alma
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| 8. | Dreamsville
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| 9. | Where or When
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Jazz
Shelly Berg - Solo piano, Producer
Luke Melton Cover Design
Mat Domber Executive Producer
Michael Gottlieb Cover Photo
Paul Bruno Piano Technician
Paul Griffith Engineer, Mixing, Mastering
Rachel Domber Executive Producer
Shelly Berg's music is inherently relaxing. For one thing, unlike most virtuosos, he never uses his formidable technique to awe and distance his audience; his music is a warm embrace, as welcoming as it is personal. Ever striving to balance the intimate and the universal, as well as the strong and the sweet. Berg makes a point of drawing from his technical and spiritual "wells" at the same time... His splendid music also reminds us that, whatever else is happening, there will always be great love and beauty in the world - and there's never been a better time for that message than right now.
---Dr. Judith Schlesinger, senior writer, AllAboutJazz.com and author of Dangerous Joy: The Mad Musician and Other Creative Myths
It's hard to believe this is only Shelly Berg's sixth recording as a leader. A clearly talented musician, he's admitted to never having sought a career as a recording artist, preferring to teach and perform on-stage. But as you listen to his astute and literate jazz piano, you quickly realize this is one of the more talented keyboardists around, rivaling acclaimed contemporary greats like Chick Corea, Kenny Barron, and his first hero, Oscar Peterson. This is a solo piano project exclusively with no overdubbing, varying track by track from upbeat to a ballad approach and back. Berg offers his interpretations of American popular standards or medleys of show tunes, while brilliantly incorporating well worn lines alongside new and freshened melodies that catch and slightly tug or twist your ears. His rendition of Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma" is particularly arresting, forming cascading extrapolations on the theme, taking it into Baroque territory, and exhibiting the virtuosity similar to Corea. He, like Corea, adeptly bounces along a bunny trail for a My Fair Lady medley of the music of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe, or Frank Loesser's Guys & Dolls, both midtempo, playful and fun. His fleet fingers accent the atypically upbeat take of "The Touch of Your Lips," much more anxious and excited than the title implies. Somewhat reticent emotionally but stylistically vintage, Berg's dualities during "Where or When" come out further, but he's more involved in matters of the heart during the slower, tender, Gershwin-esque "Like a Lover" Chopin like "The Nearness of You," and sentimental but not sappy, patient, careful read of "My One & Only Love." On "Dreamsville," Berg transports the listener to a far away place on the wings of springtime via a pillow of romanticism. Symmetry, balance, and common sense sway Berg's thinking, but there's always an element of adventure and wonder in his playing that separates him from so many others. Add to that his immense talent does not command the spotlight of a pyrotechnician nor a workmanlike presence, but that he is constantly re-inventing these standards. It would be a good guess that if this album was to be completely redone a thousand times, many individualistic, different results would occur. Only the insular, informed, elite music community is aware of the brilliance Shelly Berg possesses, and now it's time, albeit overdue, for the rest of the world to catch up. ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide
Shelly Berg
Active Decades: '90s and '00s
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Hard Bop
Although he has achieved some recognition as the president of the International Association of Jazz Educators and as a teacher, Shelly Berg's powerhouse piano playing has thus far been generally overlooked due to him not recording often enough. Inspired by his father, trumpeter Jay Berg, Shelly, at the age of six, was accepted at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He started playing professionally when he was 13, playing both classical music and jazz. Moving to Houston with his family when he was 15, Berg played regularly with Arnett Cobb and various all-stars passing through town. He turned down a job with Woody Herman to finish his education. After graduating from the University of Houston, Berg played locally with a variety of groups, including the Brass Connection. He became a respected music educator at San Jacinto College in Texas before moving to Los Angeles in 1991 to teach at U.S.C. Shelly Berg appears occasionally in Los Angeles clubs, often playing with Bill Watrous' groups, and in 1996 he recorded a fine trio set for DMP.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
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