Search - Paul Reisler :: Birth of a River

Intelligent instrumental music

02/27/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Plainly said, this is a good CD. It works as both pleasant background music and as interesting listening for a music enthusiast. Not astounding music, not entirely unique, but not boring either. Sadly, because of the label on which this record was released, it often gets lumped with all that new age [stuff]. The difficulty, of course, is in trying to classify instrumental music that is neither jazz, nor orchestral, and not sprinkled with fairy dust. If you're looking for smooth, non-offensive, intelligent music without sinking to a Kenny G. sort of level, then Reisler and Read are your men. Bobby Read was the guitarist in the original Bruce Hornsby band, and his playing here is as good as on any of those Hornsby records. The tracks with violin accompaniment are a little reminiscent of a Canadian band from the 1970's called Conventum. Unfortunately, Conventum's records are not currently available on CD. For more music like this try a Canadian music label called Actuellecd.com. Overall, this CD is worth the price of purchase."