Monday, March 16, 2009

Winds of Change - Jazz Review - Susan Frances

Airborne always finds a new way to put the listener on an aircraft and fly them over exquisite landscapes that feel aurally entrancing and sensually relaxing. The group’s sixth CD Winds Of Change delivers an titillating carpet ride for listeners that reaches exciting heights and coasts elegantly along languid clarion channels.

Breezy, attractive island sways fumigate tracks like “Brazilian Praise” and the title track “Winds Of Change”
with silky textured chimes and serenely scented nuances enhancing its beauty. The calypso beats and bubbly keys bridged across “Calypso Night” create a buoyant ambience with a Caribbean zing and luscious, velvety vocals provided by Airborne’s singer Elizabeth Delinger.

The smooth Latin flare in guitarist Gregory Borino’s ringlets and the tender swirls of trumpeter/flugelhornist Randy Bost are splayed gingerly across “Spanish Guitar” as percussionist Asher Delerme spices up the dishnicely and bassist Steven Clarke dives right into the island-enriched riffs. Flutist/saxophonist Thomas Sansonepropels warm lathers, which softly foam up the melodic essence of “Magic In The City” as keyboardistThomas Borino sprinkles a tangy dressing over the tune.

For the album, Airborne rendered the services of three drummers, Dean Kosh, Adrian Tramontano and Alwyn Smith,who each play on a different track. The orchestral grids in the refreshing aerial passages of “Better Days Ahead”and “Just One Night” are softly welded and pervade a nocturnal lighting and romantic aura.

The band revisits the creamy melodic strudels that weave across “Winds Of Change” as the song is reprised on the final track topped with sound bytes from the public speeches of such luminaries as Senator Barack Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The track enforces the opinion that the world is on the verge of undergoing a positive change.

Airborne have been dubbed “musical peacemakers of contemporary jazz” and their latest CD Winds Of Change is socially poignant as the music fosters peace and unity and incorporates the listener into this mission. The album creates a peaceful environment for the listener, who then becomes a part of this expedition and shares in its triumph.

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