April 2003

George Winston is best known for his million selling solo piano albums such as Autumn and Winter Into Spring and he’s also quite active with his Hawaiian slack key guitar releases on Dancing Cat. In between his piano explorations and his Slack Key work with Dancing Cat, the Montana native found the time to record and release an evocative solo instrumental piano tribute to The Doors entitled Night Divides The Day. The title of the album is a line from the first Doors single “Break On Through”, a song of which Winston notes, “to me it was the greatest piece of music I’d ever heard. It was deeper to me than anything I’d heard.” Night Divides The Day evolved out of eleven Doors songs that Winston arranged as part of the repertoire for solo R&B piano dances—something that he’s doing quite a bit of these days. Displaying a wide texture of sounds and styles, Winston has totally tuned into and combined some classic barrel-house, boogie-woogie piano sounds with the majestic guitar / keyboard arrangements that The Doors were so well known for. Even original Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek was quoted as saying, “I love George’s playing. He has captured the essence of The Doors, and added his own unique voice.” All the hits are there from “People Are Strange” and “Light My Fire” to “Love Her Madly” and “Riders On The Storm”—the group’s last big hit with the late, great Jim Morrison. Excellent cover art and a fascinating booklet with in-depth liner notes by Winston adds further scope to Winston’s unique piano tribute to one of the greatest American rock bands of the ‘60s. www.georgewinston.com

A relative of former President Calvin Coolidge, guitarist Calvin L. Coolidge II recently released his second instrumental guitar album and it’s a winner. Produced by New Age synthesist Paul Speer—and featuring a number of gifted players—Seconds is low key, but don’t let that fool you. Coolidge is masterful at combining deeply meditative instrumental moods and eloquent acoustic / electric guitar performance. Describing the musical makeup of Seconds Calvin adds, “I suppose, for this CD, a broad category might be modern day instrumental, but I suppose that's ultimately up to the listener.” An excellent album to unwind and mellow out with, Seconds is a fine introduction to the Seattle-based guitarist. www.30thpres.com

Conceived and produced by classical rock impresario Mike Batt, the debut CD from The Planets—Classical Graffiti—takes the perennially popular crossover classical rock sound into the 2000’s with style. Batt’s work pay off and the Planets’ CD features an intriguing hybrid mixture of classical strings and rock themes performed by a band of eight mostly British and Euro musicians including electric guitarists Ben Pugsley and Anne-Kathrin Schirmer. Batt’s muse comes alive here, combining his own unique classical/rock compositions meshed with adaptations of timeless music from classical icons like Joaquin Rodrigo, Bizet, Ravel, Bach and Debussy and more. Batt personally selected these young and gifted players from some of the finest music schools in Europe and the extensive CD booklet provides a wealth of information behind each member of The Planets. www.theplanets.org.uk

One of the coolest discoveries on the South Florida music scene is Miami-based Stephan Mikés. Originally from Chicago, Mikés began performing and recording his own unique brand of world-beat instrumental music with the focus right on his superb sitar playing way back in the ‘80s. Renowned for combining the enchanting Indian flavored raga sounds of the sitar with all types of music including Latin, Middle Eastern, Afro Cuban and Caribbean, Mikés further flavors his albums with his compelling performances on guitar, mandolin and lap steel guitar. Late in 2002 Mikés released what is perhaps his best album yet. Secret Songs Of The Sitar Player picks up from where earlier Mikés albums like Dakini Beach and The Good, The Bad & The Karmic leave off. A great chill-out album filled with world-beat sitar sounds and subtle yet effective percussion and electronica, Secret Songs is like an audio travelogue filled with magical, mystical sounds. A noteworthy 2001 CD release from Stephan Mikés is Jewel Of The Lotus. With the stress of modern life threatening to tear apart the world it’s great there’s music like the three track Jewel Of The Lotus. Clocking in at over an hour, the CD is a real treat for anyone interested in the karmic sounds of Ravi Shankar and all the great Indian sitar players of the past. Both the upbeat, groove-oriented sounds of Secret Songs and the meditative, downtime vibes of Jewel Of The Lotus show two equally fascinating sides of the artist’s expansive musical horizons. www.stephanmikes.com

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