Search - Tom Ranier :: In the Still of the Night

Primal memory realized...

Larry D Blumenthal | Silver City, New Mexico | 08/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some thirty years ago I watched the Cal State Fullerton Jazz Ensemble do their thing at a festival in San Diego County. What really caught my ear, and my mind's eye, was their young keyboard player listed in the program as Tom Ranier. He was a phenomenon. Years passed and I couldn't remember the guy's name to save my life, until about a week ago. An epiphany! A friend was talking about a recent visit he'd had near Mt. Ranier; meanwhile in the bg was some smooth jazz playing over the coffee shop p.a. that kept pulling my attention away. I asked the proprietor what I had just heard. They checked their cd player and said "Summer Me, Winter Me ... it's a Tom Ranier CD." Oh My God!!! This album does not disappoint my 30 year old memory. Tom just has a certain "touch" on that piano that goes beyond playing. He paints colors of emotion in sound, of memories of things yearned for, of nearly forgotten old times. Turns out he's been busy all these years. He has recorded with a wide array of artists including Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, Bob Brookmeyer, John Heard, Terry Gibbs, Carmen McRae, Natalie Cole, Dexter Gordon, Harold Land, Bud Shank, David Benoit, and Manhattan Transfer.  He has done plenty of film and TV and extensive studio work with artists such as Quincy Jones, Natalie Cole, Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Bill Conti, Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder and many others. So, I consider this solo album by Tom Ranier a real treasure, indeed, since we can enjoy his amazing vision and imagination just for themselves without the glamour and glitz of all those intrusive "big name somebodies". Thank you, Tom, for YOUR music. More please."