Search - Ralph Towner :: City of Eyes

Another Towner's beauty

D. Tesic | Melbourne, Australia | 06/27/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a piece of beautiful music that defies all categorisation. Listening to Towner's masterful fingering of his classical and 12-string guitars is always a pleasure and fascination. Stockhausen's trumpet and McCandless's oboe and horn add melody and colour. Really a beautiful album for all you ECM sound lovers out there."

A Towner masterpiece

Tim Withee | Los Angeles, CA | 12/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What can you say about the immensely talented and innovative Ralph Towner? His music, as the other review states, defies categorization. It's spacey, lyrical, rhythmic and maybe somewhat quirky. It's not jazz inasmuch as what we think "jazz" should be, nor is it "classical," but a combination of both, if I had to nail it down. It's probably some of the most interesting music you might hear in some time. The sidemen are superb, Towner's playing is magical. I've had the recording for 10 years at least and it's still in my playing rotation.



In addition, the other reviewer didn't mention the drummer/percussionist on this album, Jerry Granelli. I don't know if one can call Granelli underrated -- it's probably not the best term to describe his status as a musician -- maybe it's because you don't see his name in the press as often as you see the names of other great drummers in jazz, but there's no question that he is a master percussionist. His work stands out on almost any recording he's on, either as a sideman or as a leader. Check him out if you like what you hear on this side.



In any case, this is a CD that's easily worth a 5 star rating."