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| JOE BONNER |
| new beginnings |
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| ITEM NUMBER: 22227 |
RELEASE DATE: 06.01.04 |
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JOE BONNER
new beginnings
New Beginnings finds Bonner in a solo setting on acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes. The CD contains the six tracks from the original Theresa Records LP, five of which are Bonner originals and a cover of Thad Jones' A Child Is Born. New Beginnings is a stark and intense work from a committed artist.
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| Joe Bonner | Acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes, producer | | Laurie Antonioli | Voice on Soft Breezes
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Click on the icon or song link to hear an audio clip. To listen to song samples you'll need Windows Media Player.
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| Rating: |
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Florid Gilding On A Virile Sound |
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[10.24.2004] |
Joe Bonner, a potent pianist who was influenced by McCoy Tyner and collaborated with Pharoah Sanders and Freddie Hubbard, is a bravura player little known outside the jazz world. But he is a strong presence on this reissue by Conshohocken's Evidence Music.
Bonner recorded these six tunes on acoustic and Fender electric piano for Theresa Records, which released them in 1988. he seems at times to strum the instrument. His chords live large, the solo lines are splashy, and he puts florid gilding on a virile sound.
The opening chords to his tune "The Revolution" project a Tyner-style ferocity, but he takes the cut in some sweet directions. His take of Thad Jones' "A Child Is Born" is full of gentle grace. - Karl Stark (Philadelphia Inquirer)
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Adventurous and Therapeutic |
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[09.15.2004] |
Enjoyed this morning's sunrise in a most quietly beautiful place. Sunlight poured down from above, tender and strong, setting off wondrous and dark shadows. A place where you can safely hear the wordless sound of your own heart.
Every one of these five originals, plus Bonner's rendition of Thad Jones' "A Child Is Born," sounds like a love song. Even if they were not composed to be heard that way, in Bonner's hands they are lovingly rendered on acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes, mainly in solitude. Laurie Antonioli doubles up Bonner's "Soft Breezes" melody with beautiful wordless vocals, cello dances with piano through Bonner's title track.
Bonner attacks "Soft Breezes" with a guitarist's rhythmic touch, strumming with his left hand to voice each individual note within chords, and contrasting the melody against repeated background ripples. Like much of this beautiful music, "Primal Scream" sounds both adventurous and therapeutic. So does the penetrating and explosive "The Revolution."
He sounds profoundly influenced by McCoy Tyner long before the last song, a tribute to Tyner's most famous employer, "Ode To Trane." This sounds so forthright and tender, at least the first two verses, you really could be listening to Burt Bacharach (it's rhythmic and melodic flow seem to echo "Wives and Lovers").
Bonner has recorded and performed with Roy Haynes, Freddie Hubbard, and Billy Higgins, and has served as one of Pharoah Sanders' most sympathetic pianists. "New Beginnings" was originally released by Theresa Records in 1988. Its beauty is something of a curse: This set is way too brief (less than forty minutes) and because what you DO hear is so beautiful, you are left wanting to hear more.
- Chris Slawecki (allaboutjazz.com)
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