Rainmaker's Dance

Uli Lenz | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arkadia Jazz
• ASIN: B00005IC2X
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,144 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Traumatic Experiences With Bavarian Trapdoors

2. Rainmaker's Dance

3. Umbrella Indoors

4. 1, 2, 3 Cuckoo!

5. Rip (Rest in Peace)

6. Subway to Vanilla City

7. Perfect Couple

8. Brake for the Wild Boar Blues

9. One Year After

10. Orange Coalition

11. My Foolish Hear

12. Little Ostrich

Editorial Reviews

Hot House

”His penchant for resonant tonal clusters and deep, sometimes somber chording sets him apart from the copycat neoclassical bop breed.”

Product Description

The discovery of German Jazz pianist Uli Lenz s CD, Uli Lenz: Rainmakers Dance, is a thought provoking and moving event. Rarely will you hear a Jazz album with a combination of such power and grace. From the spellbinding delicacy of A Perfect Couple to the stormy heights of Traumatic Experiences with Bavarian Trapdoors, Uli Lenz unique sound and writing style make him a rising star on the Jazz horizon. His songs, One Year After and Umbrella Indorrs, were featured on the soundtrack of the award-winning film Sideways starring Paul Giamatti. Already renowned internationally, Lenz is joined on his U.S. debut by music masters Ira Coleman on bass, Horacio El Negro Hernandez on drums, with Arkadia label mate alto saxophonist T.K. Blue on several cuts as well. With a formidable command of the keyboard, composition and style, Uli Lenz: Rainmakers Dance not only represents the best of Jazz's past, present and future, but masterfully displays the pianist s playful sense of time and melody on this impressive album!

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Jazz Pianist/Compser Debuts on Arkadia, May 29, 2001

By 

F. Norman Vickers (Pensacola, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rainmaker's Dance (Audio CD)

When I picked up this CD, a glance at the tune-list told me this was an unusual album. Of twelve tunes on the album, only one, "My foolish heart" was familiar. The other eleven were compsed by Lenz. I thought, maybe producer Bob Karcy and/or Lena had a foolish heart or ego.

On reading producer Bob Karcy's liner notes, I learned that Lenz receive classical piano training and then moved on to jazz. He has performed jazz concerts in his native Germany but this CD is his first recording effort in the U. S.

The breadth of Lenz's pianistic and compositional skills are astounding. He swings. Some tunes are Monk-like in their harmonies. Some tunes have florid runs reminiscent of the Roger Williams "signature" run on "Autumn Leaves." He even give sthe ballad "My Foolish Heart" his own unique treatment with unusual harmonies. Lenz's compoistions have unique titles which have to do with his own experiences, but you'll have to listen to the album and read the liner notes to fully appreciate this.

Lenz is backed by New York studio musicians Ira Coleman, bass; Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, drums; and, on two numbers, by alto saxophonist T. K. Blue.

Congratulations for Lenz and group for a gigantic first effort. I hope for the next album sooner rather than later.

--F. Norman Vickers is volunteer executive director of the Jazz Society of Pensacola ( FL).