John Polito
Green Note Music
[818] 298-6585
info@greennotemusic.com
Here’s sort of an unassuming album that I’m sure was a lot of hard work. Most of them are, come to think, and if they’re easy, it’s probably because you’re put in a lot of hard work before you got there. In real life, John Polito is known for his fidelity – good news for Mrs. Polito, but essentially he works in Los Angeles cleaning up hissy soundtracks to old movies like Pinnochio, Snow White, and All About Eve, and applying the same magic to TV and vintage musical recordings.
Crossing The Line shows a lot of different styles and arrangements, but it’s all kind of soothing and introspective… well okay I put it on and wasn’t paying a lot of attention to it, and most if it reaches through pretty well even under such circumstances. It’s all instrumental, more or less you can do the background thing, or maybe create a good work or romantic environment thingy. Styles range from contemporary jazz to Latin dance to classical duets. I like most of it, but i wasn’t thrilled with the opening track “Euphoria,” and the Latin Tinged “Aurora Alegre” isn’t smacking of originality, and it doesn’t fit the mood of the rest of the album.
Most of this though very delicately touches the soul. It’s not deep or ponderous stuff, but mostly, it works. Polito plays the keyboards well, clean, light, and confident, and he has a good ear for arranging. You would imagine the sound quality would be good, or he’s have to smack himself.
Along with Polito, among others, are Charlie Bisharat on violin (he records with Yanni and John Tesh, but I guess he was still awake to lay these tracks down), Andy Abad on guitar, and Doug Lunn on Bass.
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