Customer Reviews

Here and Now

5 star:		(2)
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Simply Ryan Cohan at his best. You will love this album. If you are not familiar with Ryan Cohan and his group, give them a try.

"I am not certain of all the influences of Ryan Cohan beyond his tribute to the late great pianist, Kenny Kirkland and his admiration of pianist, Billy Childs. Having listened to the CD prior to reading the liner notes, I immediately recognized the Kenny Kirkland connection. The sextet arranging style is reminiscent of Wayne Shorter's "High Life" and of some of Jackie McLean's best work. There are impressionistic shades of Bill Evans. Nevertheless, all this was achieved by sensitive and masterful extrapolation of elements from the best of the best with the outcome being uniquely the music of Ryan Cohan without compromise. For the most part, the music is deeply introspective, linear and atonal with only brief references to any blues based idiomatic expression. It is music that possesses high esthetics in terms of its sophistication, integrity and serious nature. The wide dynamic range of the music and the vast textural diversity is most impressive of as well. The two saxophones, occasional flute and trumpet interweave in an intricate patchwork of varied juxtapostions, which constantly shift the textures to keep the listener cued for the next event. "Here and Now" is a true piece of art. In fact, if this music were a painting, the intriguing layers of color would be dazzling to the eyes. Traditional geometric forms would appear as abstract shades from a more distant perspective and visa versa. On top of all this would be exceptionally detailed depictions of people, places and things that appear to be almost photographic in nature. Don't be surprised to see many awards garnered from this rare masterpiece."
-Robert Irving III