by William Kanter Woods
Fat Note Records, 4961 HHP, Bronx, NY 10471-3229
They'll tell you it's a mix of jazz, classical, new age, funk, and what not, but if you're not a fan of jazz, the rest of it isn't going to stick out all that much. William Kanter Woods, in 'real life', is more doctor than musician (pass me that pancreas, I fell a song comin' on!). His album A Doctor's Dilemma presents us 11 of his piano-featured compositions.
A few things stuck me on this one that set it above the pack. First off, his piano playing is as clean as an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show; you can hear everything he's doing without a lot of mud, and some of the more complicated chords are worth the time. Second, the songs have a wide range of interesting and exotic moods, so you're not getting the same thing over and over again; and third, he avoids the problem of many jazz musicians of who play to entertain themselves and forget about the audience. Well, yep, there are some folks who like that sort of thing, but Woods lets you figure out where he's going, and how he gets there. It's probably the classical influence, that makes this as well thought out as it is. Woods plays all the parts himself, with occasional help on guitar, bass, drums, and various programming. There's a string and a flute patch that sound annoyingly artificial, and would have been better played on the real thing, or have another sound substituted all together. Other than that, I think we're cookin'.
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