Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: journey

  • Beautiful Journey

    Beautiful Journey

    In this amazingly complex and beautiful third album Beautiful Journey from the talented Brenda Warren, she has raised the bar even higher in the genre of New Age music, with this heartfelt and deeply emotional work, by taking a personal journey through all the many and varying aspects of life, love, joy, happiness, sadness, sorrow and acceptance.

    On this journey she has been joined with a stellar cast of award wining musicians in Charlie Bisharat, Premik Russell Tubbs, Tom Eaton, Jilly Haley and many others, to create a wonderful blending of layers of sound.

    Opening with the evocative solo piano piece Imagine Spring, it offers a fresh new beginning after the dark, closed in days of winter. Beginning on a slightly hesitant note, indicative of the first tiny flush of a new bud, before opening out into a full, rich splendour of colour and feeling which is a lovely beginning to this divine work.

    Passing Through has the haunting undertones of female wordless vocals which then with the addition of a wind component to the composition gives a delicate, almost impermanent air, underlining the point, Yes, I was here, but now I have moved on.

    The signature piece Beautiful Journey is another beautiful solo piano piece, strong, resilient, full of emotion, showcasing the immense talent Warren has for composition with deep emotional ties.

    Moving away from the more sombre tones is the light and dainty Beneath Cherry Blossom which has a built-in smile. Warren has captured a very definite perspective of Japan at Cherry Blossom Time, when the Cherry Trees are in full and glorious blossom. Perfection between heaven and earth, magic for the soul.

    Blue Sky Day is definitely a tribute to those perfect days when the sky is nothing but blue everywhere you look, the air is fresh and anything is possible; a day that lifts the spirit and sooths the soul with pleasure and joy.

    Pure bliss comes with Drifting; the bliss of letting go, simply allowing the music to absorb and take you where it will, a gentle and thoughtful piece that offers the opportunity to take a moment out of time; to simply be right there in the moment.

    Rounding out this emotional and enriching journey is Forgiveness, once again a piece about moving on, forgiving and by forgiving setting yourself free to once again be able to live a happy and joyful life. Sombre in parts, reflective in others, it is a sincere and powerful completion to an album rich in the fullness of life.

    Will Ackerman says about Brenda Warrens work ‘Her work is deeply heartfelt and stunningly emotional…a glimpse into her artistic soul.’ A perfect summation.

  • Journey of Tears

    Journey of Tears

    In an album hard to define, flautist Monica Williams combines her life experience with immense skill on flute to present her first solo album, Journey of Tears.

    The work is in entirety a complex and yet emotionally refreshing collection of compositions, ranging from melancholic through to vibrant, thoughtful, reflective and joyful, as she reaches out with her music to create soundscapes that transport, refresh and offer solace in difficult times.

    Sherry Finzer, Darin Mahoney, Michael Selig and Alexa Nodromia join her on this work, bringing with them immense talent and skill in the New Age genre, adding a lovely tonal variety to four of the songs, which adds yet another dimension, another layer, to the melodies.

    The inside cover of the album contains the emotions behind each of the pieces allowing a snap shot of what is encapsulated within each piece. Beginning with a lovely little offering of Reflecting on Life’s Challenges Monica Williams shares her philosophy on life and living in words, before the songs commence.

    Raining Tears, the introductory song was written after a major loss and reflects this in the melancholy created by the flute as she works through the sadness. Shery Finzer on bass flute and Darin Mahoney on guitar join her on New Horizons, created after attending her first Zone Music Reporter Awards, an event that offered her a raft of new beginnings, new collaborations and inspiration.

    Conversations Within is a piece easily able to connect to as each person has conversations with themselves to help sort out conflict, become comfortable with change and accept the so many things which simply can not be changed in life.  Michael Selig on guitar adds a lovely balance to this intriguing composition

    Reflecting on change saw the birth of Constant Change as Williams pondered on the continuous changes in life and the art of letting go. Using a range of Native American Flutes to create the many layers of change ever present has allowed this piece evolved into an intricate and beautiful song of moving forward.

    The Great Beyond draws this emotional and very beautiful journey to a fitting conclusion as it is a hauntingly delicate piece. The evocative vocals of Alex Nodromia carry the melody with the flutes weaving throughout the vocalisation. Mahoney once again adds a subtle contribution on guitar.

    Journey of Tears is essentially a narrative told in music and one that is filled with acceptance, renewal and hope.

  • World Café

    World Café

    Catchy and jaunty the latest work from Ron Korb, World Café, has captured the very essence that makes up all the wonderful, colourful and vibrant meeting places of the world, in a fabulously light-hearted journey throughout the Latin world of Spain, Cuba, islands of South America and the South Pacific.

    Bailar Conmigo (Come Dance With Me) comes straight from the heart of the Spanish Latino beat that gets the feet tapping, the blood pumping and the joy of life and living flowing through the spirit.

    An accordion solo from Joseph Macerollo in Sans Regret takes you to the shores of the Mediterranean where the definite, haunting and persuasive sounds of the accordion mixed with piano, bass and drums offer a moment of reflection, on a balmy Mediterranean evening.

    Clipping along is the third piece Cordoba featuring Ron Korb on flute with a cameo performance from Johannes Linstead, who adds his own pulsating beat to the overtones of a torrential downpour one afternoon in Cordoba, which provided the inspiration behind this gloriously up-tempo piece.

    Island Life sees the slightly more laid back and mellow ambience of the South Pacific captured with Korb on 12-hole ocarina, Bill Bridges, Aiden Mason and Steve Lucas on guitars, joined by Ben Riley on drums and Larry Crowe on a collection of percussive items such as shell shakers, walnut shells and the maracas, encapsulating all that is the very heartbeat of South Pacific life.

    In a change from his usual style of composition, Ron Korb wrote the lyrics to Take My Hand while composing the melody; a piece which at its very heart, offers ‘the message that the path to happiness is very simple.’ The words are beautiful, there to be enjoyed as a piece of poetry set to the samba beat. The words to Take My Hand are in the booklet built into cover of the album; a trademark of Korbs’ albums.

    A sultry element is introduced in New Orleans, a piece which captures the very many vibes that go into making up the passionate, enigmatic, intensely cosmopolitan mix of edginess and intrigue, which gives this port city in the Gulf of Mexico a certain seductive sultriness that captures the heart eternally.

    No musical world journey of this nature would be complete without a tribute to the flamboyance of the Carnival so famously known worldwide. Music is an essential element of this Portuguese festival held each year before Lent, with the wild extravagance, street dancing and costumes of Mardi Gras creating a fast-paced pulsating beat, which has been captured perfectly.

    Sans Regret Finale is written for bass flute and four ‘cello’, with inspiration provided from the streets of old Montreal as they settle into peaceful contemplation in the evening twilight; streets like so many others, that have seen the years roll inevitably onward, offering as time passes a mellow acceptance of all who have walked that way. Low and evocative this is a beautiful, gentle and reflective piece with which to say farewell until next time, when we meet in the World Café.

    World Café is Ron Korb at his best.

  • Story of Ghosts

    Story of Ghosts

    In this unusual album, Story of Ghosts, the presence of those unseen and yet observed is ever present, brought into full view through the sensitive and elegant creation of the composer, pianist and singer Fiona Joy, known worldwide for her immense talent on the keyboard.

    Song for Dunnie commences this latest and her third album, with a measured and yet happily cheerful feel, whereas Story of Angels changes the dynamic somewhat as Fiona Joy sensitively explores the story of those who are with us always, unseen, and yet felt, their spirit ever-present.

    It is fitting, after dealing with Angels, that Contemplating requests a little time out to reflect, ponder on the immensity that is life, a hidden reminder tucked away to prompt one that contemplation is something always required on life’s journey.

    As the tracks drift onwards the calibre of the music speaks for itself in that it is reflective, soulful, hesitant at times, as if Fiona Joy is asking for permission to pare back the layers to the gems that lie often not all that far below the surface, such as in the piece The White Light which is gentle, delicate and pure, but with an underlying power and strength; a beautiful piece.

    Story of Ghosts once again returns to the basis for the album, that of looking back, looking forward, seeking and yet knowing that everywhere one looks, travels, and observes there are always the ghosting of those gone before, creating an intriguing and introspective piece that delights with its unique character.

    Being out of control is a relative experience and one familiar to all, a state of which Fiona Joy has attempted to describe in the piece Story of Insanity, a dark and deliberate composition threaded with light and hope accompanied by the knowledge that all things do pass, even the darkest and most outrageous of times.

    For those new to the works of Fiona Joy this is a wonderful, neo-classical style of music that offers much be enjoyed, with the final track Before the Light being a piece of significance, as it is a dreamy, contemplative piece with a deep, rich vibe that offers a meaningful conclusion to a beautiful, hauntingly provocative and reflective, contemporary piano album.

     

  • Let There Be Light

    Let There Be Light

    In 2016 Tom Moore and Sherry Finzer collaborated on an album Whispers from Silence which went on to receive much acclaim in the world of new age, fusion music with its serious undertones and ability to encourage deep meditation.

    The immensely talented pair has come together once again to fuse the incredible skill of Moore with his contemporary acoustic skills and sound with the more traditional, but brilliant range of the flute, played by the talented and much acclaimed Finzer.

    A lighter sound than their previous work, Let There Be Light is delicate, almost dainty and extremely subtle as it is simply there, not demanding to be paid adherence to, but gently seeping within to create a what could almost be termed as an elegance of peace; an elegance of grace.

    Created in the firm consideration that beyond the material world there is another world, that of vibration and consciousness, which if listened to will take the person, the very soul beyond the physical and in to the meta-physical, to the place where peace and joy is to be found, has been perfectly illustrated throughout this work.

    Profound but a profundity which has been translated particularly well, that begins with the relaxing piece, The Way of the White Cloud, introduced by the sound of the plucking strings of a guitar which ushers in the deep, dark tones of the bass flute, underscored with a repetitive electronic drone; slow, cleansing and hypnotic.

    As the album has been created to take the listener on a journey of relaxation, peace and joy, each of the nine pieces has been constructed in such a manner as to be a different stage of the journey; some slow, gentle and sombre, others full of life and light such as Timeless Journey which has an intriguingly uplifting effect.  When followed by Full Moon Night, introduced by the sound of waves lapping on the shore, then single guitar notes, the journey takes on an almost exotic timbre which is enhanced by the haunting notes of the flute.

    To a degree there is solid component of experimentation within the album with the use of bells, chimes, and what could almost be considered as a ‘chanting’, although this is produced electronically, combined with  additional sounds which are appearing more often in the composition of new age/ambient/meditation music styles, which creates a slightly different resonance.

    Sacred Ground is a real pleasure to enjoy as it immediately brings to the imagination mystery, mystique and thankfulness, while offering another time, place and space to dwell.

    Concluding this album of light and sound is A Deeper Light, which brings to culmination a work of discovery with the sound of bells, a storm crashing overhead and once again the ‘chanting’ effect overlaid with the deep notes of the flute and subtle additions of a harp.

    Moore and Finzer have once again produced an album which should do more just than please the listener, it should encourage deep meditation and given time, become an award winner for the talented duo.