Search - Paul Winter & the Earth Band :: Journey with the Sun

East meets West. Both win.

Bob Zeidler | Charlton, MA United States | 12/27/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Arto Tuncboyaciyan is yet another Paul Winter "find." While Arto has been around as a performer for a number of years, his previous albums, recorded and produced in Armenia and Greece, have not seen wide distribution in the U.S; for all intents and purposes, this can be considered his domestic debut album. He has sessioned with, among others, Oregon, Al DiMeola and Chet Baker, as a percussionist, so he is not a totally unknown quantity. But it is his earlier Athens-produced albums "Onno" and "Tears of Dignity" which provided initial evidence of his remarkable vocal abilities.



The brief title above could well have been called "This Journey is a melismatic trip." It shows off Arto's considerable vocal and instrumental skills and his intensity of song, with a near-Eastern flavor that at times is Sufi-like. Of the thirteen tracks on the album, Arto's voice is featured on seven of them, and it is virtually impossible to pick a favorite. So I'll pick three, instead: "Caravan at Dawn"(the opening track), "Singing to the Mountain," and "Oror Bubrik" (the closing track), at some risk of not bringing mention to four other excellent tracks. "Caravan at Dawn" is a riot of vocal and instrumental color, very "Eastern" in its setting and with fine keyboard and percussion support by Jordan Rudess (of Dream Theater) on synthesizer and Mickey Hart on RAMU, his self-invented computerized Random Access Musical Universe, looking (and played) much like some modern-art steel pan. "Singing to the Mountain" features a long introduction by Arto on the sazabo, sounding much like some cross-fertilization of a banjo with a ukelele, and Arto is as good on the sazabo as is Bela Fleck on the banjo. "Oror Bubrik", the closing track, is as good an album fade-out as "Dawnwalker Reprise" was on Winter's "Celtic Solstice" album, which is about as fine a statement of praise that I can muster. The richness of the vocal and instrumental textures must be experienced, and Arto's way with this "closer" is nigh perfect.



But Journey With The Sun is also a "best hits" album of two years' worth of recent Paul Winter Solstice Concerts (both Summer and Winter) at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, so the album also has the contributions of "regulars" such as Eugene Friesen, Paul Halley and Dorothy Papadakos, and "frequent Consorters" such as Davy Spillane, Jerry O'Sullivan, Niamh Parsons, Jim Beard, and of course the redoubtable Jordan Rudess. Winter and Halley once again demonstrate their stranglehold on "cathedral blues" with "Cave of the Winds," where Winter wails as well as he ever has in his opening soliloquy and Halley trips off on one of his best-ever organ improvisations. Davy Spillane once again serves notice that he is more than just the best improvisational Uilleann piper on the planet; he is the Johnny Hodges of the pipes. Mickey Hart shows off the remarkable capabilities of RAMU in a cute, upbeat track called "Yabu." There are keyboards (piano, pipe organ, synthesizer) galore, with Halley and Rudess laying down some truly astounding synthesizer tracks. Eugene Friesen is still the best improvisational cellist around, with a nice Friesen/Spillane duet (a fascinating sonic juxtaposition) in "Pas de Deux." There's a nice Celtic ballad sung by Ms. Parsons. And two great stomps in "Mountain Wedding" and "Land of the Pipers" to serve notice that not all is tinged with melismatic melancholy.



Paul Winter recently wrote, in his "Greatest Hits" album, that "...the best is yet to come." And he wasn't kidding. Man, I just can't pick a favorite track on this album. Consider this a positive statement of "the best," with, I'm sure, yet more to follow.



By the way, a Grammy nominee for Best World Music Album. Deservedly so.



Bob Zeidler"

Original, heartfelt and stunning!

Brianna Neal | USA | 11/30/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Adventures of a caravan of world musicians, recorded in the great space of the world's largest Gothic cathedral," proclaims the back cover of this CD. This is a wonderful concert of true world music, originally performed in 1998 as a sunrise service celebrating the summer solstice in Manhattan's Cathedral of St. John the Divine. This music varies widely in style, from Near Eastern to Celtic, African to modern jazz. But the selections are similarly and deeply affecting, filled with all the longing and fulfillment life has to offer, and celebrating both extremes with equal fervor. The Earth Band is comprised of saxophonist Paul Winter, percussionist and vocalist Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Davy Spillane on Uillean pipes and whistle, Eugene Friesen on cello and Paul Halley on keyboards. Guest musicians include Mickey Hart, with his Random Access Music Universe (RAMU), and singer Niamh Parsons. Each artist gets his or her chance to shine. Many of the tracks are characterized by the distinctive talents of Tuncboyaciyan, who sings not in his native Armenian, but in a unique dialect all his own. Paul Winter's soprano sax is wonderfully versatile, fitting seamlessly into the wide range of musical styles performed. And I love the use of the cathedral's pipe organ--grand, full-throated and unapologetic, it fills its home-space with all its glory, reminding modern listeners that it is not called "The King of Instruments" for nothing. Of one track (#4), Winter writes: "I wrote this in 1975... I've waited a long time for a band that could bring it home." He could just as well be referring to the whole album, because this band and its guests do just that. Put this CD on in the dark, and imagine watching the stained glass windows of an enormous and resonant cathedral slowly beginning to glow with the rising of the sun, until the huge space of the nave is bathed in multi-colored jewels of light. Whether you can actually see the "light show" or not, that is the effect listening to this music will have on your spirit. Enjoy!"