Dreamer

After celebrating his 2012 Grammy-winning "Echoes of Love", Omar softens the mood to serenade us with the romantic melodies of "Daytime Dreamer". Featuring six brand new tracks and five previously released selections, the familiar splashes of Omar's signature world textures (oud, duduk, violin and guitar) weave back and forth in a sublime dance with his exquisite piano compositions.

David Benoit - Professional Dreamer (1999) {GRP Records GRD-9942}
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© 1999 GRP Records / Universal Music | GRD-9942
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Crossover Jazz

The pairing of smooth jazz's premier veteran pianist and trumpeter/producer Rick Braun is remarkable. The six tracks produced by the latter offer a unique contrast between thick, hip-hoppy bass grooves and Benoit's peppy, angst-free ivory musings. On the in-your-face "Rejoyce," Benoit's swirling, high-register melody combines with Pat Kelley's Wes Montgomery-like electric licks (and Benoit's own Hammond B-3 harmony coloring) for a floating ride above a jumpy retro-soul rhythm. The underpinnings are even chunkier on "Jump Start," which finds Benoit's piano and Andy Suzuki's playful alto making light, bluesy conversation over a throbbing hip-hop pattern. Braun also gives Benoit space here for some lower-toned piano improvisations.

During the post-production of Dennis Hopper’s surreal and unjustly-forgotten South American anti-imperialist western, The Last Movie (which would prove disastrous for his career upon release, yet go on to become a cult classic and one of Hopper’s own proudest achievements), the actor and director was the subject of a sort of loose, biographical documentary, filmed around his Taos, New Mexico home as he wandered the desert, got wasted, and philosophized about life (see tag line: “I’d rather die fighting than die getting fat”). American Dreamer would share in the fate of The Last Movie and quickly disappear into obscurity, but among the film’s remains lays a beautiful acoustic soundtrack, featuring original compositions courtesy of Hopper’s personal acquaintances, such as John Buck Wilkin and Chris Sikelianos, as well as better-known performers such as Gene Clark and gonzo-mime-band The Hello People.

It was 1975, and a band came out of St. Louis with, well, a unique sound. They called themselves Pavlov’s Dog, but they were not conditioned toward any kind of mainstream sound…

A great album cover should give an indication of the sound of an album, or at least its sensibility. Happily, that much is indeed true with Steve Walsh's solo debut, Schemer-Dreamer, which sports what very well could be the greatest album cover in rock history…

Eliane Elias' second record for Bluebird is, like the previous Kissed by Nature, a vocal date intended for crossover audiences. Elias connects with her Brazilian pop heritage by choosing to sing, early on, a pair of Astrud Gilberto pieces, "Call Me" and "So Nice (Summer Samba)," both of which fortuitously suit the short range of her voice. Still, she speaks far more with a half-minute of piano soloing than she does with several minutes of vocal interpretation, and sounds far more comfortable taking an extra verse of the latter in Portuguese.

John Taylor - Requiem For A Dreamer (2011) {CAM Jazz CAMJ 7834-2}
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© 2011 CAM Jazz | CAMJ 7834-2
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Piano

John Taylor’s fabulous trio, plus Julian Arguelles on sax… The successful trio reunites for another classically elegant recording, this time adding a sax, which spontaneously and seamlessly blends in to make this a striking and remarkable album. Like an oxymoron in chiaroscuro, the music by the English pianist in his latest “Requiem For A Dreamer” moves with a complex simplicity; the simplicity of listening and the lyricism of the melody contrasted by a formal richness and research that is beyond simple or trivial.

It’s been a while since MARC REECE’s much acclaimed solo album “Let It Burn” (Inakustik, 2009) had seen the light, but now the Blues/Rock guitarist puts the waiting to an end by releasing his highly anticipated new work, that goes by the name “Dreamer”.Extensive touring all across Europe and Asia during the past years, either with his own power trio or as a line-up member in the bands of other renowned artists, was the reason it took until 2019 for Marc to finally manage to start the recordings for his fourth studio album.