Search - One Alternative :: Changes

The contemporary trio One Alternative is at once classically inspired and thoroughly modern, making music they call "acoustic fusion"--a blend of horn and guitars that recalls chamber orchestras, the Paul Winter Consort, and the mathematical playfulness of popular jazz. Changes is an otherwise chronological retrospective of One Alternative's work that begins with the disc's sole new composition, aptly titled "Changes," on which band constants Mark Oppenlander and Jill Haley weave an intricately intimate dance on 12-string and oboe, respectively. The baker's dozen following are originals (save for a rendition of Bach's version of "Ave Maria") taken in clusters from previous albums, beginning with their 1985 debut, Greenlawn, through 1996's Yet to Be. Haley's warmly expressive tones are particularly evident on "Holiday" (from 1990's Shadows), an exquisitely gleeful meditation on joy on which Oppenlander's guitar sings like a trickling brook. Elsewhere they are supplemented by a second guitar and occasional bass and percussion. --Paige La Grone