Search - Norman & Nancy Blake :: Natasha's waltz

Highly recommended

Steve Vrana | 05/10/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ever since its release, this has been on of my favorite albums. Not traditional bluegrass, I always think it has a "gypsy" feel to it. Mostly intrumental, there is great use and interplay of guitar, mandolin/mandola, and violin/viola. If you want to branch out past the cookie cutter "man with a guitar" folk, try this lovely album. I think you will be glad you did - I recommend "Natasha's Waltz" absolutely without reservation."

One of Traditional Music's National Treasures

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 11/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first encountered Norman Blake on John Hartford's 1971 landmark album AEREO-PLAIN. Since then I have become a life-long fan of his hybrid blend of folk, jazz, blues, old timey and bluegrass acoustic music. Norman is a gifted multi-insturmenalist who, along with his wife Nancy, play guitar, cello, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, mando-cello and accordian. They are joined by James Bryan (fiddle), Carl Jones (guitar, mandolin, mandola, banjo), Larry Sledge (mando-cello), Peter Ostroushko (mandolin, fiddle and guitar) and Charlie Collins (guitar, fiddle on tracks 13, 14, 16 and 18-21).NATASHA'S WALTZ actually draws from three of Blake's out-of-print albums from the late Seventies and early Eighties for the Rounder label. Tracks 1-12 (all instrumentals) are from 1982's ORIGINAL UNDERGROUND MUSIC FROM THE MYSTERIOUS SOUTH. Tracks 15 and 17 are from 1979's THE RISING FAWN STRING ENSEMBLE. [Blake took the name from his home of Rising Fawn, Georgia.] The rest of the tracks are from the 1981 release FULL MOON ON THE FARM and includes the album's only vocal on the waltz-time "Diamonds in the Rough."My only complaint is that the accompanying 4-page booklet is too skimpy. It doesn't even include songwriting credits, but even the original songs sound like they could have been written a hundred years ago. Blake and his wife, along with a group of like-minded musicians, are gifted instrumentalists who perform with a spirit that is both powerful and enchanting. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED"

Nice to see this one on CD...

Steve Vrana | 11/20/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first 12 songs on this disc were orginally released as ORIGINAL MUSIC FROM THE MYSTERIOUS SOUTH and credited to The Rising Fawn String Ensemble. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. Virtually impossible to categorize. If you're a fan of bluegrass, "newgrass" or virtually any acoustic-oriented music, you owe it to yourself to check this out. You'll be humming these tunes long after the CD has left the player. No vocals. An overlooked gem."