GEORGE WINSTON "Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions: A Hurricane Relief Benefit" "Complete Solo Piano Recordings 1972-2004" Windham Hill
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GEORGE WINSTON IS BEST known for impressionistic piano pastorals, but he has always pledged his allegiance to New Orleans's legendary keyboard kings: Professor Longhair (Roy Byrd), godfather of the Crescent City R&B scene in the late 1940s and his first major inspiration; James Booker, whom Winston credits as his greatest overall influence; and Henry Butler, whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
So it's hardly surprising that "Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions: A Hurricane Relief Benefit" features works written or inspired by those giants, whose style comprised rolling bass-line thunder from the left hand and syncopated, dizzyingly ornate arpeggios and glissandos from the right. Butler's "The Breaks" and Booker's "Pixie" are both high-energy romps that fire up the usually laid-back Winston, who offers a spry variation with "Pixie #3 (Gobajie)." Dr. John's angular "Creole Moon" also gets an anxious, fevered reading.
Fans of Winston's more airy, atmospheric work will appreciate his originals, the lulling two-part "Gulf Coast Lullaby" and "Stevenson," a graceful eulogy for filmmaker Stevenson J. Palfi, whose documentary "Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together" traced three generations of New Orleans piano legends; suffering from depression, Palfi committed suicide after losing his home during Katrina.
Winston's expansive extrapolation on "When the Saints Go Marching In" is a turbulent mini-symphony invoking varied pianistic influences and evoking appropriate tension and release, but at 12 minutes it's exhausting. The album opens with "New Orleans Shall Rise Again," Winston's paean to his inspirations, and ends with "Blues for Fess, Beloved," a minimal, melancholy meditation inspired by Professor Longhair, whose legacy is the subject of the musician's next album.
Though Winston's greatest successes have come with his "new age" solo recordings, you can hear stride, blues and R&;B influences on his debut album, "Piano Solos," reissued as "Ballads and Blues 1972" and one of 10 included in his new box set, "Complete Solo Piano Recordings 1972-2004." Winston's seasonal albums ("Autumn," "Winter Into Spring," "December" and "Summer") are ruminative variations on Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," and there are the evocative landscape albums "Forest," "Plains" and "Montana: A Love Story." But the set also includes "Linus & Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi," Winston's delightful tribute to Guaraldi's "Peanuts" cartoon themes, and "Night Divides the Day: The Music of the Doors," which proves surprisingly adaptable to solo piano exploration. Five of the albums, including seasonal standard "December," feature bonus tracks and downloadable, printable sheet music.
-- Richard Harrington
Appearing Friday through Sunday at the Barns of Wolf Trap.
