Promises Kept [Import]

Steve Kuhn | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 27, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Ecm Import
• ASIN: B000093OSO
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,751 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is the emotion in Kuhn's melodies that is the focal point, October 5, 2004

By 

Marty "Uberjam.sam" (Denver, CO, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Promises Kept (Audio CD)

"I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of jazz "with strings" records that 'work' for me. This is a somewhat mysterious phenomenon as jazz and improvised music is food to me. As necessary as oxygen. Along those lines, a good string quartet is a thing not only of beauty...it is beauty."

"But then you go and mix these things together and, well, they don't wanna mix. Here I'm thinking of many of the musics labeled "Third Stream". This was jazz mixed with classical. In its more knotty forms it was a load of fun. But sometimes, that stuff just didn't want to be blended and the result was dense, turgid and waaaay too serious."

"There are of course, counterexamples in jazz. Take Charlie Parker with Strings. It's basically flawless. I mean, it is Charlie Parker."

"So, you might be thinking: Steve Kuhn? Yea, not exactly a household name to the casual jazz fan. This is too bad though, as Kuhn has written some fantastic music over the years and has played and recorded with an impressive list of jazz stars including Kenny Dorham, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Art Farmer, Steve Swallow, Tom Harrell and Joey Baron."

"Promises Kept features seven new compositions written with string arrangements in mind, as well as three older Kuhn pieces reworked for that context. What makes this album 'work' is Kuhn's romantic & expressive melodies and chord structures. The melodies, with Kuhn at the piano, really do 'tell a story'. So much so that the string arrangements fit effortlessly. This was not accidental. From Bob Blumenthal's (excellent as always) liner notes:

While the rhythmic power of his music is represented by "Trance" and "Oceans in the Sky", it is the emotion in Kuhn's melodies that is the focal point here. "As I've gotten older and gone through deaths and losses, as well as open heart surgery, and at the same time come to appreciate the love and the positive influences in my life, I find myself responding more emotionally."

"Kuhn goes on to say that the strings seem to bring out the emotion in the music. I couldn't agree more. This is a sort of musical travelog through Steve Kuhn's life. It obviously means a lot to him, but we can all take something from it."


Posted on Mark Is Cranky

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb & Tasteful, June 2, 2004

By 

E. C Goodstein (Northern CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Promises Kept (Audio CD)

I agree with Jan Dennis's review. Great album-- more
in the realm of 'instrumental' like the great arrangers like Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and such, but also contemporary.
Kuhn also reworks some of his earlier pieces to fit format
well. Great at what it is IMO.

4.0 out of 5 stars Romantic Soundtrack in Search of a Film, October 12, 2010

By 

Dr. Debra Jan Bibel "World Music Explorer" (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Promises Kept (Audio CD)

This transformation of jazz trio to string orchestra takes Steve Kuhn, his piano, and his compositions into Hollywood. ECM recordings of free jazz characteristically border contemporary classical, but this album walks the edge of jazz and at times may have crossed over entirely. The lush, lyrical, emotional and dramatic pieces seem to be a soundtrack from a romantic movie of the 1970s. The listener can easily create the scenes from its dark, menacing opening to a passionate epic, of a dance, a drive in the country, misgivings, departures, a waltz to the bed, a wistful, nostalgic lament on the path not taken, acceptance, resolution, and bittersweet memories of the journey. Seriously. Kuhn has a flair of the drama in all his works. The contrast between the same tunes by trio and by strings could not be stronger. The wandering improvisations and rhythms of the trio are lost, or made less obvious here, though the score for strings do shift our emotions here and then there. Each track is an interesting scene, with sensitive, developing piano work, but taken together they develop a tedium of sameness in their largely even and moderate tempo and sound. As a jazz recording, I find fault, but as a cinematic soundtrack it deserves full marks. This is a remarkable, unusual sound adventure. Kuhn's and Carlos Franzetti's orchestral score is impressive writing.