Perhaps I’m becoming Gotham-centric. Having once chided my New York City-based colleagues for their blindness to all culture outside the five boroughs, the first adjective that Claire Ritter’sThe Stream of Pearls Project (Zoning 2011) brings to mind is rural: an adjective that now threatens to become my catch-all for any music that doesn’t exude the energy and dissonance I associate with The Big Apple. All this is to say that Ritter’s new release caught me off guard with its quiet humor and clarity.
Living much of her life in North Carolina and Boston, Ritter hasn’t missed out on chances to perform with heavies such as Dave Holland and Steve Swallow. What she seems to have gained, however, seems to be an aesthetic rooted in rural landscapes and the patience to let tone color take center stage.
Ritter claims water as inspiration, whose influence is made manifestly clear throughout the album. Water is evoked by her trickling modal gestures on “Bolero on the Charles,” and her Debussian rolled arpeggios in “Blue Ridge in Watercolor.” The album’s finest moments are Ritter’s solo excursions, in which her rubato phrases serve as emotional propeller, increasing drama without obscuring meter.
Less dazzling are the collaborations with percussion. Applying cymbals for color rather than rhythmic enforcement on “Blue Ridge in Watercolor” makes sense, but after three or four dramatic cymbal rolls the gesture becomes tiresome. “Sailing Pamlico” peters out with an unconvincing bongo solo. The addition of cello is tasteful and adds warmth, and accordion lends a folksy vibe to the second half of the album.
Various styles are presented throughout: mambo, shuffle, calypso, and the aforementioned third-stream solo piano approach. Frequent modulations and sequences make pieces like “Swiftly Winding” sound downright classical, whereas others have the lilt of very singable jazz standards. The Stream of Pearls Project is overall a diverse, pleasant CD that will appeal to fans of lighter piano jazz and classical music.
Release Date:
April 19th, 2011 on Zoning Recordings
Personnel:
· Claire Ritter – Piano
· Ashima Scripp – Cello
· Toni Naples & Rick Hansen – Accordion
· Richie Stearns – Banjo
· Jon Metzger – Vibraphone
· Takaaki Masuko – Drums & Percussion
Track Listing:
·
North American Watercolors
1. The Beauty of Its Stillness, Overflowed Me Like a Tide
2. Bolero on the Charles
3. Swiftly Winding
4. Blue Ridge in Watercolor
5. Stream of Pearls
6. Across the Gorge
7. The Brook, the Bird, & I
8. Catfish Shuffle
9. Valse of the Ponds
10. Fortuity
11.
· Outer Banks Crystal Shores
1. Under the Moonrise
2. Skydune Mambo
3. Ballade of the Flight
4. Wild Ponies Run Free
5. Sailing Pamlico
6. Mustang Calypso
7. Along the Banks
8. Island Jingle, Dancing With My Heart
From: http://jazz.about.com/od/2011jazzreleases/fr/Album-Review-Pianist-Claire-Ritters-Stream-Of-Pearls-Project.htm
Biography
Biography
American/New Music composer/pianist/educator Claire Ritter continues to innovate with vision and accomplishment. Early piano study began with Ziggy Hurwitz and Anita B. Tritt of Queens University, Charlotte, NC. Her graduate studies include work with the late jazz legend Mary Lou Williams at Duke University and McArthur Genius Award recipient Ran Blake at New England Conservatory.
Dean Smith of the Charlotte Observer recently described her work as "gemlike" and "indescribably American". New York Cadencemagazine describes her as a "visionary calm". Her music represents an artistic quality which weaves a unique blend of classical-jazz styles into one of distinction.
While living in Boston for over fifteen years, Claire Ritter has established a career which includes numerous recordings, in addition to performances by well known worldwide artists, such as Dave Holland, Ran Blake, Ricky Ford, Houston Person, Dominique Eade, Steve Swallow and many others.
Her compositions have been recorded on Zoning Recordings, founded in Boston, and European labels such as Soul Note and Hat Art, as well as performed internationally, including Canada, Europe, and Asia. New England Conservatory, where she founded her Contemporary Songwriting class, has hailed her compositions as "a music which lends itself to a vast array of interpretations which is reminiscent of Duke Ellington's music." Boston Globe critic Fernando Gonzalez calls her "an artist to watch", and Bob McCullough of the Boston Globe says this of her music, "... as articulated in a body of work that now emcompases nine albums, the musical truths of Claire Ritter are both playful and challenging, cerebral as well as heartfelt, forward-looking rather than rooted in the past...these qualities are rare in music today".
Claire Ritter performs Island Jingle, Dancing with my Heart at Queens University with Taki Masuko and Toni Naples
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