Views from Western Australia

Even if you don’t know their names, you will have certainly have heard their music! 

Grusin is an Oscar winner for his score for The Milagro Beanfield War, he has written over sixty movie scores, including The Champ, The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Firm, Havana, Heaven Can Wait, On Golden Pond, The Graduate, For the Boys, Selena, Mulholland Falls. 

Ritenour has recorded over forty albums as a solo artist, including: a tribute to Wes Montgomery titled Wes Bound, A Twist of Jobim, a tribute to Brazilian songwriter Antonio Carlos [“Tom”] Jobim, A Twist of Marley paid tribute to the Jamaican reggae legend and later still A Twist of Motown.  Ritenour is also a founding member of the groundbreaking soul/jazz/funk fusion band Fourplay.

Pianist/composer Dave Grusin and guitarist/producer Lee Ritenour are both well known and lauded critically and commercially beyond the jazz world; this is the second album that they have collaborated on, the first has sold over 100,000 copies.

The album is a compelling mix that includes new arrangements written by Grusin of many well regarded classical selections, including not just Faure’s Pavane, Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, Albinoni’s G minor Adagio, and a duet from Handel’s opera Rinaldo. There’s also some Latin-inspired works penned by Dave Grusin (Three Latin American Dances), a Ritenour original composition newly arranged by Ritenour and Grusin (Echos), as well as the track which inspired the album’s title: Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Olha Maria (Amparo).

There is very little original classical music scored for piano and guitar, so when an album likes this comes along we need to take notice.  It is also of note that it has contributions by James Taylor, opera superstar Renee Fleming, classical violinist Joshua Bell, and jazz trumpeter Chris Botti. 

Decca Records

Released 9/9/2008

It is possible that the world will end at around 3pm this afternoon (Perth time, Western Australia). Physicists deep underground on the Swiss French border have begun the essential work of propelling protons at speeds close to the velocity of light prompting mock-cataclysmic collisions in the hope of replicating either a: the sub atomic circumstances that followed the Big Bang or b: the sub atomic circumstances that preceded the Even Bigger Bang. 

This moment of apprehension provides us with a window of opportunity to the wonder about the human soul and existence. Faced with the prospect of impending oblivion how do we behave? What are our thoughts and actions? Do we pay careful attention to our closest relationships?

The  ‘ Large Hadron Collider’ is real; but what is reality?

if you want more info - check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadron_Collider

B.B. King might be eighty-two years old; but he still has what it takes; stylish, elegant, and classic are the words that come to mind in attempting to review this album.