Search - Michael Jones :: Air Born

Forever Listening...

Marc Ruby? | Warren, MI USA | 11/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Air BornIt is only recently that I've begun to review CD's. Not because I don't listen to them, but because books move me more, and music is actually harder to review. For instance, I don't understand why so many of Michael Jones CD's are favorites of mine. His is not a pyrotechnic style. Rhythms wander and shift, and his melodies are sometimes hard to define. Yet there is some lean economy of flow and song which always seems to lift me a bit out of myself, to put me in a quieter and more reflective mood. When I thing of 'new age' music in its best sense, I think of musicians like Michael Jones.Take the title track on this album, 'Air Born.' I can certainly imagine it as a tone poem describing a leaf or seed tumbling along in the wind. But in its essence it seems to promise more. To me its recurrent themes give me a sense of hope and returning. If this is flight, it is not senseless, heedless hurry.Jones' liner notes speak of his habit as a child of accompanying his conversations with his friends, playing along with their dreams and stories. This is very descriptive of the style of play he uses today. Themes play against each other not by formula, but almost out of necessity and mutual support. 'Summer in Chino' is like this, playing the piano's vocalizations against each other, modulating between them with deceptive ease.'Lark in the Clear Air' is the shortest of the four pieces in the album. Building in a simply note and run theme that comes and goes. It satisfies and teases in turn, building steadily for a time, and then breaking up in shimmering series of notes. 'Voices in the Wind' is the final and longest piece of the set, going a full 27 minutes. Beginning with a questioning three chord phrase, additional components are inserted, toyed with and then accepted or rejected, becoming a complex whole. Whose voices are these? Perhaps they are those of his companions many years ago, still telling their tales.A final note. I actually wrote this review some time ago, only to discover that Air Born had gone out of print. Now it is back, like an old friend. Once again we can invite Michael Jones to play along with out dreams and stories."