The Shape of Light [CD]

Jeff Ball | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 1, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: CD
• Label: Red Feather Music
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• ASIN: B000NP5MQ4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #241,073 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Finding Promise

2. Metta Prayer

3. Escape of the Medicine Man

4. The Shape of Light

5. Tranquility

6. Getting There

7. Ancestors in Daguerreotype

8. Never Alone

9. In Buffalo Skin

10. Drawing in Embers

Editorial Reviews

Review

According to Ted Natale, the idea behind the tune "The Shape of Light" is that everything we see is because of light reflected off it, but we seldom realize that our perception of what we are looking at is strongly shaped by our moods and emotions. --Ted Natale

Jeff was born and raised in Rockville, Maryland, and is still a resident of that state. He comes primarily from a Scotch-Irish heritage with "according to family legend, a few drops of Indian blood, just enough to help me play wood-flute." Jeff grew up listening to both pop music and smooth jazz, but after he went to a powwow and heard a Native American flute player, I couldn't get enough of it. Ball got his first flute in 1992. I knew some Indian groups in Virginia and they introduced me to a Choctaw flute player named Windtamer who gave me some valuable tips early on. I read everything I could get my hands on about the Native American culture and history. At Indian gatherings I listened to the stories; I joined them in sweat lodges; and I got some sage advice from a Chipewa medicine man." "We don't play traditional American Indian songs," Jeff says. "When the Indians first started making flutes hundreds of years ago, they were only used by young men for courting. They would go out into the woods and listen to the wind in the trees or the birds singing; and each flute-player came up with his own music to play for the woman of his choice. That individuality is the tradition I am following. There is no point in copying what others are doing. We want to create a new path in our genre. This isn't our ancestor's flute music. This is American wood-flute music for the modern age." Other American Indian images are part of the music on the new album. Drawing in Embers conjures up a native road-man conducting a ceremony that includes using the fire s charcoal to draw enlightening images for the participants. In Buffalo Skin paints a portrait of Native Americans covering themselves and their homes in buffalo skin years ago, but now listeners of native music experience that same feeling of warmth and protectiveness when wrapped in these sounds. People in the Old West were captured in pictures taken by early photographers right at a time when the natural l --Jeff Ball

"Join a soul-stirring journey with Jeff Ball and his gathering of talented friends and family creating introspective melodies with new and ancient musical instruments. Meditate, surrounded by a natural display of pure organic sound using no synthesizers. The artists play the Native American flute in the traditional manner, yet what makes these songs exceptional is the contemporary arrangement. The traditional flute is highlighted against an international palette of instruments creating innovative music for your journey into contemplation. " --Lisa Marie Swayne

Product Description

Award winning flute player Jeff Ball continues to explore the boundaries of the Native American Flute on his new album, The Shape of Light, along with guest artists Arvel Bird & Peter Phippen. Jeff plays the flute in a traditional style amid a tapestry of other instruments including cello, violin, piano & acoustic guitar; all of which are joined by an instrument new to the percussive family called a Hang. This is Jeff's seventh album & is not to be missed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JEFF BALL'S NEW CD COMBINES NATIVE FLUTE AND THE NEW SPACE-AGE HANG INSTRUMENT, March 28, 2007

By 

Jake - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shape of Light (Audio CD)

Over the course of ten albums, Jeff Ball has come to be recognized as one of the premier players of wooden American Indian flutes. Jeff has always been one of the most progressive and innovative wood flutists, both melodically and with his arrangements. This album is no exception because instead of using a traditional drum kit as before, his band's drummer plays space-age dome-metal instrument called a hang (pronounced like gong) which was only invented in 2001. The hang is played like a hand-drum, but combines rhythm and melodies (notes and chords can be played on it).

On THE SHAPE OF LIGHT Ball brings modern sounds together with those from an American Indian culture thousands of years old, he also draws musical inspiration from the world around him (the tunes "Tranquility," "Finding Promise," "Never Alone") as well as from ancient native images and traditions ("Escape Of The Medicine Man," "In Buffalo Skin," "Drawing In Embers").

THE SHAPE OF LIGHT is more acoustic, improvisational and meditative than previous Jeff Ball albums. Two of the tunes are in the ten-minute jam-band range. If you enjoy cutting-edge new music mixing traditional native flute with more modern European-invented instruments, this CD will probably appeal to you.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent & Relaxing..., September 8, 2007

By 

B. Proctor (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shape of Light (Audio CD)

I play this CD whenever I am giving a Swedish Massage and it sets the pace very nicely for a deep, relaxing massage session. It is just long enough to complete an hour massage and have some play time left before the client has left the room. I seriously listen to this CD every day. It is awesome.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gregg Hammond, May 19, 2010

By 

gregg hammond "Wisdom House" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Shape of Light (Audio CD)

This is an excellent Album I highly recomend it. I also highly recomend Jeff Ball's CD "Wind Tamer", my personal all time favorite Native American Flute CD, be informed that (Wind Tamer) it has some drumming, chanting and Native philosophy between songs but if you are looking for awsome solo flute playing this is it! Also if you want to learn how to play the NAF check out Jeff Ball's (co-authored with Bruce Whitten) instruction booklet w/ CD "Trailhead of the American Indian Courting Flute". I am A NAF Maker and teacher. I am not affiliated with Jeff or any of the publishers in any way. I just have a tremendous respect and liking for Jeff Ball's flute playing and his instuction booklet on playing the Native American Flute, it is the best out there! Gregg Hammond