DANNY WRIGHT

Healer Of Hearts

Real Music (2003)

review by Michael Debbage

Danny Wright has been in the recording business for over 17 years and has become a household name in the genre of contemporary instrumental music. Yet, I have never found the time to explore this genteel and discreet artist who has steadily sold over 4 million CD's. This efficient soundtrack of his career corrects that oversight presenting both his best of "Black & White Series" and original compositions.

You might be asking, "What is the "Black & White Series"? Apparently Danny Wright began his career releasing albums and cassettes (remember them?) in local stores that featured cover tunes. These were dubbed as the Black & White Series. Perhaps this is one of the main reasons that I have shied away from Wright, continuing to associate him with the cover tunes that initially made him famous.

Though some artists such as David Lanz have successfully completed this task, with the exception of his project Songs From An English Garden, Lanz has always made it a tune here and there, versus an entire album. Covering a song is a tremendous balancing act attempting to avoid the generic route yet not slaughtering the original form at the same time. Cover tunes and tribute albums just do not appeal to me.

However, to disregard the foundation of Danny Wright's blossoming career would have been a documenting mistake. Fortunately, Real Music was smart enough to release a double disc with one dedicated to his cover career and another to his original compositions. Though the "Black & White" disc is well executed, featuring tear jerkers such as "Brian's Song," "Out Of Africa," and "Memory," the performance is safe and predictable. Considering how well the "Black & White Series" has sold, for some this re-visitation may be a pleasurable excursion.

Thus my attraction to the "Best Of The Original Compositions" is apparent. Wright's style is neither as capricious as the jingle master Jim Brickman nor as improvisational as Michael Jones, but falls somewhere in the middle. Comparisons with his label mate Kevin Kern would probably be appropriate but perhaps not quite as somber and little livelier.

Though the original compositions are largely executed on a solitaire Steinway concert piano, Wright finds the time to gently wash the songs in an ebb of synthesized orchestrations. And it is these particular compositions that tend to stand out such as the flighty "Wings Of Hope" or the stirring "Awakening." In fact, "A Day In The Life" even includes percussion work and some soft saxophone work but [I'm] not sure by whom.

That leads me to one of my minor complaints, which is the lack of credentials as to which album the tracks come from. Or for that matter a complete discography on Danny Wright. Not that the layout is cheap, as the "jewel case" is entrenched in tri fold cardboard holder but it is largely dedicated to artwork. In response to my own criticism, Wright's career with Real Music has been short-lived but considering the original compositions that have evolved since, such an arrangement would benefit us all.

Closing with a gorgeous emotive ballad, "Time Windows," there is every indication that Danny Wright is taking his career to another level. Though his music is soft, sweet and serene, Danny is no longer depending on the thoughts and expressions of other songwriters. He is an artist that is more than capable of standing on his own two feet and sweeping the listener off theirs.