| Review by JW May 3, 2003 (1 of 1 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics:  |
David Robinson from Positive Feedback Online put me on to this disc and I ordered it from www.artegra.org in October 2002. This is a fully loaded disc, with CD, Stereo SACD, a five channel SACD layer and over 1 hour of music.
This is from the liner notes: "The Bridge was recorded at Sundin Hall at Hamline University in ST. Paul, Minesota from June 11 to 13, 2001. Sundin Hall is used mainly for chamber music and has a Steinway piano that Chris uses here. The recording uses Tube mics throughout, plus a pair of ribbon microphones for the stereo image of the drum kit. B&K 4007 were used for hall reverb and the tracks were recorded direct to DSD with Ed Meitner's gear and a Genex 8500. "
I have only been able to use my Grado SR60 headphones to listen to this SACD, using the headphone out of my Allen Wright modded XB940. Despite this I do believe this is one of the better SACD's soundwise. There is a natural tone and nice sense of space. [JW postscript 1: Since I first wrote this I have been able to reconfirm this opinion listening with much higher-end headphone and amplification gear, using Sennheiser HD-600 thru a Corda HA-2, using the modified output of the SACD player: JW]
The music is flowing very nicely and if you not toe-tapping the entire way I would be surprised. The bass of Gordon Johnson gets a lot of attention on this disc. The entire disc feels very 'modern' and with that I am not referring so much to improvisation, but more to a fresh approach to the music. The sound quality enhances this feeling in my view. Integra draws a comparison with Chick Corea and this is indeed something that fans will recognize here. Chris Lomheim has a light but purposeful and rhythmic touch.
Three of the tracks are Chris Lomheim compositions, and one is from Phil Hey (the drummer). Track 2 "The Bridge" is a great ballad on which I especially like Gordon Johnson's bass work. Phil Hey's tune is called "Marse" and starts with a very good sounding short drum solo that leads into a simple but delightful melody. Track 8 - "In Passing" - is another Lomheim tune and it's a little 'darker' than the rest, starting with a delicate drum solo that starts from afar and gently sweeps in and mashes with the piano intro. Very nicely done in my view. It's a slow ballad. The last track is also a ballad and called "The Last Flower".
Is this 'just another piano trio' ? My view is that it is a worthwhile addition to my collection. It's one of those discs that could be easily mistaken for background music and you would forget about it. But if you do that I think you are missing the point. I found a lot in this music that grabs my attention, even in the slower parts. There is tension and moods, swing and reflection. Do you need it when you have a lot of Chick Corea or Keith Jarrett? That is more difficult to answer. It's less improvisational or daring for sure. But over time I think this one can stand on its own, even in such elevated company. But..only time will tell.
[JW postscript 2: I wrote this review for AA about 4 months ago and I can say that I still stand by these words and that the music remains interesting.]
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| Review by DeSelby May 9, 2005 (0 of 4 found this review helpful)
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Sonics:  |
| stereo sonics: very good sound
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| Review by Barb January 20, 2008 (1 of 1 found this review helpful)
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C. Lomheim p, G. Johnson b, P. Hey ds, Artegra 2001.
Three of the nine tracks are Lomheim compositions, one comes from Hey, the rest are jazz standards. Much care was taken for the audiophile sound of the record, choosing the location and equipment. Everything was recorded as live takes with no edits. And the resulting sound really is very good. Full of colour and timbre, very good soundstage, imaging and dynamics, air for the instruments to breath, brilliant and natural sounding. As the sound, the music is filigree, gentle, skilful and sophisticated interplay and soloing. Music for the head mostly, not for the guts. Sit down and listen. You will be rewarded.
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