PASSAGE

Recorded at Whidbey Island's charming Langley Methodist Church, near Seattle, pianist Rich Pellegrin captures the spirit of place in these times, exploring the wide-open spaces of the mind and reconnecting with water, mountains, and forest. Selected from the same vault of recordings as 2021's Solitude, Passage offers a moody, contemplative spirit as it follows an evocative narrative structure, taking the listener on a cinematic journey through their own imagination. The piano itself, a relic with its own idiosyncrasies and character, is another personality in the performance as its creaks and exhortations suggest paths for the performance to wander. Through these two volumes, an accomplished musical mind with far-reaching intentions offers the freedom to just "be."​

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Praise for Passage

Loaded with that ECM/miniature sensibility ... Delicate, skillful and always beautiful, this is a solo piano cat with something extra.
     – Midwest Record
         (Chris Spector)

Adventurous . . . expertly paced . . . luminous.
     – The Answer is in the Beat WCBN, Ann Arbor
          (Paul Simpson)

A truly stunning display of piano prowess ... anyone with an ear for the piano will adore.
– Take Effect
          (Tom Haugen)

"Solitude" was one of my favourite releases of 2021 ... This album is every bit as good as "Solitude" and displays a very special musical vision. It gets close to the jazz ideal of composing in real time yet keeping the immediacy of free improvisation.
    – Jazz'halo (Belgium)
         (Stephen Godsall)

Passage masterfully synthesizes these techniques, proving Pellegrin an improviser of uncommon sensitivity and offering an invaluable window into a creative mind at work.
     – Earshot Jazz Magazine
          (M.V. Smith)

Thirty brief and beautiful introspections ... Passage and Solitude are both such timeless gems of the art of solo piano.
    – All About Jazz (★★★★)
      (Dan McClenaghan)

An intimate and vulnerable exploration of self ... Pellegrin has an authentic and recognizable musical language ... He is a deep thinker at the piano, a philosopher who does not play to show off but to reflect on the complexity of humankind.
    – All About Jazz (★★★★)
      (Jane Kozhevnikova)