As much as I love good old American rock and roll, there’s a
\npart of me that sometimes longs to get away from the volume,
\nshouting and electric guitars. I think that’s what first got me
\ninterested in things like classical music, the Narada record label
\nin the ’80s and – God help us – new age music, from time to time.
\nWhen you really need a few moments to yourself, there is honestly
\nnothing like hearing a song with hints of Celtic music, a good
\npiano solo piece or Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony.<\/p>\n
One label I find myself going to more and more is Zebra
\nAcoustic, an offshoot of the jazz\/fusion label Zebra. We’ve already
\nreviewed a few of their artists, David Pritchard and Pierre
\nBensusan. Now, for those who might be interested in some of the
\nthings they’ve read about these artists and who might not be ready
\nto sit through an entire album out of fear of the unknown, there’s
\nhelp in the form of
\nNatural Selection… A Sampler<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Featuring two tracks from seven of the label’s releases, this
\ndisc covers the spectrum of acoustic music quite well, and serves
\nas a very nice smorgasbord of all their delicacies. Sure, there may
\nbe one or two that you’re not fond of, but two tracks isn’t that
\nmuch of an investment of time.<\/p>\n
Bensusan gets the most coverage with two tracks from his career
\nretrospective
\nNice Feeling<\/i> (which we reviewed here a few weeks ago) and
\npaired with flutist Didier Malherbe on
\nLive In Paris<\/i>. The two selections from
\nNice Feeling<\/i>, “4 a.m.” and the title track, show the
\nabsolute mastery that the French-born fingerstyle guitarist has
\nwith his instrument. Anyone who is a lover of solid guitar work
\nwill be hooked by these two tracks. (I’ll get back to Bensusan in
\njust a moment.)<\/p>\n
Speaking of solid guitar work, Pritchard’s cuts from
\nUnassigned Territory<\/i> (which we also have reviewed) are
\nwonderful examples of his talent. Everyone I have ever played his
\ndisc for has fallen in love with his tone and guitar work; “Stairs”
\nand “Brazil” should have the same effect on you.<\/p>\n
With all the wonderful guitar work on
\nNatural Selection<\/i>, it’s surprising to hear a few examples of
\nwork that disappointed me. Gavin Lurssen impressed me with
\n“Venetian Rush Hour,” the first featured cut from his
\nRestless<\/i> album. But the title track seems to be less rich in
\ntone and style, and is a major letdown coming off of “Venetian Rush
\nHour”. And while I’ve already sung the praises of Bensusan, when he
\nteams up with Malherbe, it’s almost like his guitar work becomes
\nsecond in importance to the flute – and the overall sound suffers
\nas a result.<\/p>\n
\nNatural Selection<\/i> has one group of singers who might take a
\nlittle time getting used to – Bulgarian Voices (Angelite) with
\nMoscow Art Trio & Huun-Huur Tu. The two selections from
\nMountain Tale are intriguing (sometimes, it sounded like they were
\nsinging backwards to my untrained ear – I’ve not cultivated an
\nappreciation for Bulgarian singing yet), but it wasn’t anything
\nthat would have had me running for the “skip track” button. It’s
\nalmost like listening to other-world folk at times; maybe that’s
\nwhy I found it intriguing. But don’t be disappointed if you find
\nyou can’t bring yourself to get through these selections. It’s not
\nthe easiest thing to listen to at times.<\/p>\n
Of the remaining artists on
\nNatural Selection<\/i>, Vince Mendoza with the London Symphony
\nOrchestra presents an interesting picture of what classical music
\nin the late 20th Century can sound like. Both “Impromptu” and
\n“Sanctus” are curiously engrossing. Rounding out the selections are
\nThomas Beckmann and Johannes Cernota, who perform music by Charlie
\nChaplin written for the cello and piano. “Limelight” and “There’s
\nAlways One You Can’t Forget” harken back to the days of silent
\nfilms – which both of these tracks could easily fit to. It’s an
\nintriguing listen – though it got a little tired quickly.<\/p>\n
\nNatural Selection<\/i> is the kind of disc that should get the
\nlistener interested in any of the seven groups of artists that are
\nhighlighted here. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself checking
\nout many of these artists after listening to this – proof positive
\nthat the sampler has served its ultimate purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5827],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39082","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-various-artists","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39082"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}