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review by Bill Binkelman Jeffrey Michael reveals himself to be a new age piano player of solid technique and sincere artistic vision on his release, After the Storm. While listening to the thirteen tracks on the CD (which range from 2:25 to an ambitious 7:42) I was put in mind of everyone from Wayne Gratz (on the cheery rolling melody of the opening "Tidal Wave") to George Winston (the previously mentioned ambitious long piece "The Storm" which is literally inspired by Winston per the artist's liner notes - a long and somber exploration of tone poem improvisation and re-workings of repeated phrases) to David Lanz or Yanni ("The Edge of the Ocean," a broad and dramatic darker piece that has a wave-like cadence to it). Not everything is as adventurous or complex as the latter two I mentioned above. "Reverie" is a by-the-numbers soft romantic ballad. It's well-played, if a bit cliché. "Stillness" is an introspective piece, again eliciting comparisons to Winston or similar artists, owing to its juxtaposition of minor notes/cords with a gentle sense of movement in the melody. "The Journey" opens with some nicely done minimalism (solitary notes with deep reverb), escalating into a balancing act between upper and lower registers with the composition doing a creditable job of evoking the sensation of traveling down the road. "Painted Moon" is another of the more traditional pieces on the album, performed well enough to satisfy the casual fan of solo piano music. It suffers only by comparison to the tracks where Jeffrey pushes the envelope a bit. "Boundaries" is more to my liking, holding some tension in the interplay between registers. It'd be interesting to see what a deft and discrete application of well-engineered synth strings could do for this artist's music. Sometimes, solo piano needs a little something extra to make it stand out from the crowd. On those songs where Michael strives for something a little less traditional, that embellishment is unnecessary, of course. However, sincere yet pedestrian songs like "Aurora" could, I think, gain from judicious electronic textures, although that's only my personal opinion obviously. Sadly, while I understand the reason for ending the album with the song "The Dreamer's Waltz," (it's explained in the liner notes), I feel it brings the album to a lackluster conclusion - even anticlimactic. I think the song would have served the CD better placed in the middle. My criticisms of this album are minor ones, intended more for the aficionado of the genre, not the casual listener. As solo piano recordings go, After the Storm is an admirable effort and contains some first-rate music, along with some that is certainly fine enough if viewed as "filler." Jeffrey Michael is quite young; hopefully, he will continue to explore the less-traveled paths as well as those that are "safe." |
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