Customer Reviews

Life Between the Lines

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Laurie Z's Life Between The Lines is one of my all time favorite CD's! I have owned that fabulous piece of work for probably 8 years and I can say it is a "timeless" CD. The variation of songs and the compositiion of each and every one is so beautiful. I never get tired of it.

I have played her music in my clothing stores , sitting down to dinner with friends, planting flowers in my garden, driving in my car. It is a must have CD!

Karen Jenanyan Owner/Talisman Boutique Santa Barbara, CA

I first discovered Laurie Z.'s music on her solo piano album, "Roots", which I love, and then worked my way backwards to her earlier work. All three albums are very different from each other, but all showcase Laurie's passion and love for what she is doing. An innovator at heart, Laurie is also a master at improvisation who always creates new music in concert from audience members's suggestions for subject and key signature. Always on the move, Laurie tours all over the country doing concerts in halls, clubs, music stores, book stores, and outdoor festivals. For many of these festivals, Laurie performs with her band, and the band is included along with Laurie's assorted synthesizers on "Life Between the Lines".

This CD includes some of my all-time favorite Laurie-tunes - the title song with its classical/rock dichotomy, the tragic "From the Diary of a Redhead", "The Mayan Wavelength", "Trouble in Paradise", "The Time Dance", the funky "A Change of Heart", as well as one of Laurie's signature pieces, "My Perfect Love". This is truly one of my favorite albums and one of my favorite artists!

Have you ever wished you could express your life through music and capture all the big events, everyday moments, and inmost thoughts and feelings in a bounty of sound? Well, wish no more because keyboard genius Laurie Z. has done it for all of us with her extraordinary CD, Life Between the Lines. Listening to its magic is like meeting someone new and feeling as though they've been your best friend all your life. Every track is a gem capturing some aspect of the experiences we all share while trying to live as individuals on a crowded planet. Laurie's uncanny capacity to balance technical virtuosity with exquisite melodies and textures glows from every selection. The title track bristles with the easy grace and power of a summer sun hurling itself through the vastness of early afternoon. Running In Circles dances with all the varied moods of a long and crowded day, busy yet ultimately joyful. The song A Delicate Balance poses those questions that come to a person alone on a rainy night around 2 AM, queries about what our lives mean, how we got to be who and where we are, how we stay there, and why. The closing track, Miss You Blues, evokes the sweet longing of hearts apart even as its infectious, optimistic groove promises that love is stronger than any kind of distance. Each of these 12 tracks is its own sonic universe, at once intimately familiar and delightfully surprising to both ears and spirit. The Mayan Wavelength takes the listener on a mystical electronic jungle journey reminiscent of Laurie's acclaimed debut CD, Window to the World. My Perfect Love, a stunning, achingly beautiful piano solo, gives the listener a good idea of the marvels to be found on Laurie's latest CD, Roots. Considered for eight Grammy nominations, and engineered and co-produced by the legendary Paul Grupp (Get out your favorite music of the last 25 years. You'll probably find that Paul's played a key role in creating it.), Roots is a tour-de-force solo piano feast showcasing Laurie's intuitive gift for hauntingly beautiful melodies and powerful arrangements. Some of the tracks were even spontaneously composed in the studio, a truly prodigious feat given the sweet fire and innate rightness of her sweeping keyboard poetry.

The bottom line is this: Come, listen to the music of Laurie Z. You'll hear your own life between the lines and meet a brand new best old musical friend.

"A great blend of classical and soft jazz with New Age leanings... As a composer, Laurie combines sounds into tapestries and as a musician; she displays unfailing attention to detail while giving full expression to her emotions." - Backroads Music

This CD was released in 1995 and the record company who released it gave me the chance to evaluate it. Laurie Z plays New Age music that will remind you of Yanni. Unfortunately, that's where all the comparisons end. I felt the CD was lethargic and didn't have much punch. It was routine and didn't give me much vibes. There are some moments, though. I enjoyed the track, "My Perfect Love". It displayed her potential with her beautiful acoustic piano playing. But then the rest of her album got too "high tech". I guess you could call it music for the times. It was released more than 10 years ago, so time has not been good to its evolvement. Laurie Z probably has some better CD's out there. Just not this one.

I learned about Laurie Z a number of years ago when she was playing at The South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach California. She is a gracious and classy lady that plays with great skill, passion and creativity.

"Life Between the Lines" is a must have album. With both classical and new age sounds you will love it.