Search - Paul Winter :: Earthbeat

Fall in Love with Life

Omer Belsky | Haifa, Israel | 09/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In August this year, I attended the yearly Jazz Festival in Eilat, known as ' Jazz in the Red Sea'. I am not a huge jazz fan, so I enjoyed many of the performances but felt no need to buy any of the CDs by the acts performing.Then, the very last concert of the very last night, went to see The Paul Winter Consort and the Dmitri Pokrovsky Singers. To say that the act was phenomenal is an understatement. It simply blew the competition out of the water - and stood head and shoulders above any other act in the Festival.Dressed with what I presume are traditional Russian cloths, the Dmitri singers dances, stormed their feet, played the violin (badly - the only weakness in the set), and most importantly sang - raised their voices in wonderful, exotic harmonies, completely unfamiliar to me, someone who listens mostly to Rock, Blues and other forms of music derived from the European and America traditions.After seeing a whole variety of Jazz acts, The Paul Winter Consort came off as even more impressive. I can't put the finger on what made Winter's group them so great - there were many able pianists, bassists and drummers in the performances, but somehow, the Consort was so much better. No doubt it was because the music was so much better - not just effective, but often sterile Jazz, but wonderful combinations of styles and forms.Paul Winter (who, due to a malady in the mouth, had a man holding his lips while he played) was not only a fantastic saxophonist but a bandleader extraordinaire, straight forwardly and warmly communicating with the crowd. His Sax lines mirrored and complimented themes from the rhythm section, the Dmitri Singers, and occasionally recordings of whales, wolves, and so on.It was a fantastic concert, and you can hear much of that charm, beauty and power here, in the record that Winter and the Dmitri Pokrovsky Singers made some 15 years ago during the last days of the Cold War. This is a true epic of World Music and Jazz. You'll love it."

Mesmerizing; sweeps you away!

Brianna Neal | USA | 05/26/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The lively, dissonant Russian folk-singing of the Dmitri Pokrovsky Singers is deftly accompanied by saxophonist Paul Winter, keyboardist Paul Halley, cellist Eugen Friesen and guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves, with Russ Landau on bass and Ted Moore and Glen Velez on percussion. The result is a fun, joyful blending of east and west, old and new. The intensity of the Russian tonalities is punctuated by whistles, shouts and even a few wolves and whales (which always sound great in duet with Winter's fluid soprano sax), while the jazz consort smoothes out the dissonances, yielding to their unique character but blending them into compositions with an undeniably modern flavor. The resulting album is a triumph. Fans of world fusion music and innovative musical arrangement, don't miss this one!"