Lillian
New member
JANICE LACY PROJECT STRETCHES NEW AGE MUSIC IN SEVERAL DIRECTIONS USING PIANO, CELLO, KEYBOARDS, BASS AND DRUMS
An excellent debut album has crossed the horizon and is headed your way. Check out Sanctuary For the Soul by the Janice Lacy Project, a group (cellist Jeness, keyboardist Rob Mullins, bassist Larry Antonino, and drummer and percussionist Tony Braunagel) surrounding Lacy on piano. Mullins, a longtime smooth jazzster with many albums in his catalog, also produces.
The most-likely category for these instrumental sounds is the seemingly all-encompassing new age music genre, and there is no doubt new age lovers will enjoy the fact that the music is soft, gentle, slow or mid-tempo, relaxing, soothing, etc. But because two-thirds of the album features just piano and cello together, there are a lot of classical influences inherent, and because Lacy wrote all the music, you would have to say this project has at least one foot in the neo-classical or modern classical or contemporary classical world (call it what you will). However, her other cohorts sneak in on at least three tunes (at least I think that I counted only three) with their instruments, and those numbers tend to be a little more jazzy than the rest (subdued jazz, but still in that envelope).
I liked the slow, positive yet delicate “Take Care of My Heart,” the upbeat solo piano tune “Everything’s Alright,” the also upbeat mostly piano-and-bass grooving together number “Sunrise Dance” and the other very pretty solo piano piece “Through the Shadows.” The title tune and “Refuge” seemed a bit too moody and melodramatic (almost like the score for an old silent film), while the forceful piano playing on “Shimmering Ocean” and “Jim’s Waltz” made those melodies pop out. There is a lot to like on this recording. Can’t wait to see what the JLP does next.
An excellent debut album has crossed the horizon and is headed your way. Check out Sanctuary For the Soul by the Janice Lacy Project, a group (cellist Jeness, keyboardist Rob Mullins, bassist Larry Antonino, and drummer and percussionist Tony Braunagel) surrounding Lacy on piano. Mullins, a longtime smooth jazzster with many albums in his catalog, also produces.
The most-likely category for these instrumental sounds is the seemingly all-encompassing new age music genre, and there is no doubt new age lovers will enjoy the fact that the music is soft, gentle, slow or mid-tempo, relaxing, soothing, etc. But because two-thirds of the album features just piano and cello together, there are a lot of classical influences inherent, and because Lacy wrote all the music, you would have to say this project has at least one foot in the neo-classical or modern classical or contemporary classical world (call it what you will). However, her other cohorts sneak in on at least three tunes (at least I think that I counted only three) with their instruments, and those numbers tend to be a little more jazzy than the rest (subdued jazz, but still in that envelope).
I liked the slow, positive yet delicate “Take Care of My Heart,” the upbeat solo piano tune “Everything’s Alright,” the also upbeat mostly piano-and-bass grooving together number “Sunrise Dance” and the other very pretty solo piano piece “Through the Shadows.” The title tune and “Refuge” seemed a bit too moody and melodramatic (almost like the score for an old silent film), while the forceful piano playing on “Shimmering Ocean” and “Jim’s Waltz” made those melodies pop out. There is a lot to like on this recording. Can’t wait to see what the JLP does next.