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Jeff
Bjorck's Pure Piano Portraits is one of those rare instrumental creations that captures
more emotion and conveys more vivid imagery than any number of lyrically based popular
albums on the market today. Bjorck accomplishes this through a generous diversity of
selections that offer a peek at his many influences---classical, new age, pop, ragtime,
early Carole King, big-band, gospel, and inspirational stylings. The 12-song CD plays like
a concert, as one song flows into the next---although the varying keys Bjorck employs on
his selections provide enough differentiation to tip off listeners that he's no
self-indulgent maestro, pounding out an hourlong progressive monster.
The main reason Pure Piano Portraits triumphs where other
run-of-the-mill instrumental attempts fail is Bjorck's keen sense of tempo and melody.
Many players---fearing they won't be able to say enough with just their
instruments---often fill every second with a cacophony of sound. But Bjorck often says as
much, if not more, in the quiet passages between his music. The opening of the second
track, Butterfly Sunrise,
is an excellent example: By striking just a few, soft notes during the nearly minute-long
intro---and letting their echoes ring out for healthy stretches---Bjorck poignantly
captures a floating, drifting feeling...not unlike a Monarch's flight at sunrise, just as
it's wiggling its wings awake. (The song's striking imagery is such that Bjorck could very
well have composed the song while watching the scene its title describes.) The tune picks
up in tempo---as a butterfly might---but then Bjorck deftly reemploys his colorful,
understated introduction as the song's quiet finale. Exquisite.
There're no shortage of melody, either. Living Waters---among the most moving, bright songs
on Pure Piano Portraits---lingers in your head long after the last bar is played. Its
melodic excursion evokes images such as skipping down a mountain path, swapping stories at
a family reunion just as sunlight's fading, and the first, exuberant heartbeats of new
love. Bjorck flies all over the ivories on this one, returning again and again to various
forms of his anchoring chorus. A satisfying, memorable tune. Two other standout tracks, Walk Down Steward Lane and Starlight Ragtime Waltz, possess the kind of
drenched-in-the-past feel you'd sense while watching the very best historically based
films and theatrical presentations. These melodies manage plenty of image-conjuring as
well---almost tearfully sentimental: Faded, wrinkled, black- and-white photographs of a
boy fishing with his pop (and their newfangled transistor radio in tow), a crowd streaming
onto a damp city sidewalk in April after witnessing Ty Cobb square off with Honus Wagner
on Opening Day 1916, or a turn-of-the-20th-century family posing proudly on the front
lawn...and a Model-T Ford in the background.
The CD is bookended by Bjorck's arrangements of two traditional
Christian hymns, Be Thou
My Vision and Jerusalem.
Interestingly, his fine treatments only faintly hint at the original versions---you have
to really try hard to recognize them. Interpreting already-created compositions does span
a wide palette, but Bjorck could have easily retitled these hymns without most of us
recognizing they're adaptations. Several song titles themselves reflect Bjorck's obvious
love of nature: Mountain Echoes, River Sunset, Twilight,
Catskill Mountain Meadow. And with the cover
art---a sharp, crisp color photo Bjorck himself took at the majestic Glacier National Park
in northern Montana---the total package expresses a sense of transcendence, otherness, and
beauty. Bjorck has created something very special with Pure Piano Portraits---a musical
statement that can touch a wide variety of people on a wide variety of emotional
and reflective levels. Listening to it is much like embarking on a journey---albeit one
that begins and ends in your heart and soul. Grab Pure Piano Portraits for yourself, and
you'll soon be on your way...
-Dave Urbanski
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© Copyright 1998 - 2006 Jeff Bjorck