|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| George Winston Releases A Hurricane Relief Benefit Album "Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions - A Hurricane Relief Benefit" was inspired by George Winston's desire to support the Gulf Coast after the recent hurricane related devastation. "The Gulf Coast Region has been inspirational to me since I first saw it in 1963, " Winston states. "This beautiful and vast region has a mystique all its own. I have been to it many times, from Corpus Christi, to New Orleans, to Gulfport/Biloxi, to Mobile, to Panama City to Ft. Meyers to Naples." Winston will donate all of his artist royalties from the album to organizations involved in helping people on the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans to rebuild and return -- organizations such as Common Ground, ACORN and others. Winston also donated all the proceeds of his September and October 2005 concerts to the same cause. "Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions" features six Winston compositions inspired by the music of New Orleans as well as pieces written by or influenced by New Orleans pianists Henry Butler, James Booker, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, and Jon Cleary. Winston interprets James Booker's "Pixie, " Henry Butler's complex composition "The Breaks" and Dr. John's "Creole Moon." Winston's compositions run the gamut from up tempo to melancholy. "New Orleans Shall Rise Again" is an ode to The City and its music, "Pixie #3" (Gobajie) borrows its form from James Booker's "Pixie, " and "Stevenson" is a moving eulogy for a lost friend. The centerpiece of Gulf Coast Blues is Winston's epic treatment of "When The Saints Go Marching In." The arrangement starts at a deliberately ominous tempo inspired by Dr. John, before breaking into the song's familiar celebratory melody and variations inspired by James Booker. The festivities are interrupted when Winston's left hand moves up an octave, inspired by Henry Butler, before returning to the melody. At the end of the tune he breaks into a stride piano section before ending with two hand rolls inspired by the South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (aka Dollar Brand). The album closes gently with "Blues for Fess, Beloved, " a eulogy for Professor Longhair that leaves each note hanging in the air reverberating, thoughts offered to fallen friends and a region and a city struggling to get back on its feet. "Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions - A Hurricane Relief Benefit" follows on the heels of Winston's "Remembrance - A Memorial Benefit, " a six song album of piano, guitar and harmonica solos to benefit those affected by 9/11. He is currently touring to support "Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions" and working on his next recording, "Beloved - The Music Of Professor Longhair." In 1972 Winston recorded his first solo piano album "Ballads and Blues 1972, " for the late guitarist John Fahey's Takoma Label. Since 1980 he has released seven multi platinum, platinum and gold albums including: "Autumn" (1980), "Winter Into Spring" (1982), "December" (1982), "Summer" (1991), "Forest" (1994), "Linus & Lucy - The Music Of Vince Guaraldi" (1996) and "Plains" (1999.) His most recent solo piano recordings include "Night Divides the Day - The Music Of The Doors" (2002) and "Montana - A Love Story" (2004). He has also recorded the solo piano soundtrack for the children's story "The Velveteen Rabbit" with narration by Meryl Streep, a solo guitar soundtrack for "Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes" with narration by Liv Ullman, and soundtracks of piano, guitar and harmonica solos for "Pumpkin Circle" with narration by Danny Glover, and "Bread Comes To Life" with narration by Lily Tomlin. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |