Award-winning jazz pianist and composer Diane Moser releases her 7 th CD, Birdsongs, inspired by nature’s most lyrical master improvisers—songbirds. Birdsongs combines virtuoso playing, heartfelt originality, and a unique and personal vibe, resulting in music that is exotic yet accessible, like the aural creations of Moser’s fine feathered friends. This new album is likely to vault the multi-talented pianist from her longtime local-favorite status into the top tier of national voices to be reckoned with in jazz. On Birdsongs , Anton Denner on flute and piccolo, and Ken Filiano on bass join the pianist in a trio setting to present nine songbird-inspired tunes, including seven originals. Over the past decade, Moser has performed Birdsongs at venues across the country with different instrumentation from solo piano to big band, acoustic to electronic, and everything in between. “The reason I decided on this group with Anton and Ken, to record all of my birdsongs, was to give the music a little more space and lightness,” Moser explains. “I also knew that both Anton and Ken would play sonically in those in-between places that is so much like the songs and calls that birds make, not always an exact pitch, but somewhere in between.
What The Press Is Saying About Diane Moser's Birdsong Trio
Dee Dee McNeil/Jazz Journalist Musicalmemoirs’s Blog March 4, 2018
“..a stunningly original package of music that celebrates birds in a very jazzy way..not only beautiful in sound and structure, but this is extremely relaxing music.”
“Here are three very talented human beings who desire to commemorate birdsongs on their instruments. I find them to be incredibly successful. This is a very beautiful production of original music by Diane Moser, capably interpreted by her stellar piano skills and the two talented musicians who accompany her on bass, flute and piccolo…not only beautiful in sound and structure, but this is extremely relaxing music.”
Dick Metcalf Contemporary Fusion Reviews February 26 2018
Diane’s wonderful piano compositions are supported impeccably by flute/piccolo from Anton Denner and bass by Ken Filiano… & don’t let the “avian” moniker throw you for a loop… this is some of the most beautiful jazz you’ll ever hear… I give Diane and her bandmates a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of 4.99 for this splendid album.
Midwest Record February 20, 2018
“Very much in the realm of a Sunday afternoon egghead session, this recital is [a] well conceived round of sitting down jazz that’s a lot fun if you just let it be. Very much a welcome diversion.”
Leonid Auskern, Jazz Quad, February 2, 2018
Diane and her colleagues play chamber music, very refined, beautiful and inspired by the breath of wildlife. This, of course, is jazz, and high-end jazz. But if you are closer to academic music, then I think you will not be disappointed by Birdsongs. The musical impressionism of Diane Moser carries an almost religious feeling of admiration for the beauty and unity of music and nature.
Dodie Miller-Gould, Lemon Wire February 15, 2018
To many listeners, it will call to mind the way some bird species bob from branch to branch. All the while, the birds’ actual songs are replicated with the woodwind, and somehow, the sound of flapping wings appears to have been re-created, too. The song is fun, with listeners trying to match instrument sounds to bird behavior and songs. But the arrangement of sounds never allows audiences to forget that they are, in fact, listening to jazz. Moser [and her band] remind audiences to marvel at nature and enjoy the ways in which jazz can be used to express a variety of aspects of the human experience.
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