Great Music! Great Sound!

Somewhat contrary to what one might expect, banjo (Jayme Stone), bass (Joe Phillips), and trumpet (Kevin Turcotte) melt together well, amazingly harmoniously in fact, woodwinds (Rob Mosher), cello (&bass) (Andrew Downing) and drums& percussions (Nick Fraser) nicely complementing the whole.

What’s best, the banjo does not sound cheap or vulgar or light or superficial or “not belonging to the ranks” as drums and electric bass often do in a symphony orchestra. On the contrary the way in which Jayme Stone makes his banjo sound in the band and orchestra has a plenty of soul and weight and melancholic sophistication in it. This is serious, premeditated non-nonsense banjo playing.

The disc contains captivatingly written music, some brilliant four note motives, clever dissonances, successful orchestrations, rich colors and textures, very few boring moments, many auditive surprises. The ear can discern ethnic influences, traces of fusion music, Western chamber music and so on. "From Malian Melodies to a Midcentury Modern Symphony" pretty much captures the essence of the album.

I liked Jayme Stone’s own composition, track no 2 for instance, but my favorite was the Concerto for Banjo and Chamber Orchestra written by Canadian composer Andrew Downing. “This County is My Home” is a splendid piece, the theme, the rhythmic parts written for cello & bass etc. It reminded me of music written for theater or film but it isn’t program music.

The sound is excellent in that the banjo is always present and always audible but so are other instruments; rarely is a solo instrument recorded so democratically.

www.rockpaperscissors.biz/go/jayme