"Magical and elusive. . . . Something special. . . . Pellegrin's imagination never flags. . . . This is music I'll be returning to both for deep listening and for inspiration."
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Passage
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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
Delicate, skillful and always beautiful, this is a solo piano cat with something extra. Adventurous . . . expertly paced . . . luminous. |
"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. |
Thirty brief and beautiful introspections ... Passage and Solitude are both such timeless gems of the art of solo piano. 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. |