An Aural Surprise
Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 09/10/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When I spotted Chameleon at a good price in the "new music" bins at a favorite Encinitas record store, I snapped it up immediately. Then when I put it on for the first time, I thought it the most upbeat and melodic Tomasz Stanko recording I have heard to date. Think Freddie Hubbard, Herb Alpert, and even Andreas Vollenweider! Then when I looked at the listing here, I found that it is not new at all but rather is a twenty year old recording previously issued for some reason only in Greece.
Well, finally the rest of the world can enjoy it. Listen to Mademoiselle Ka, Hej!, Whistle Walk, and Violet Liquor then tell me you can't hear Freddie Hubbard's influence. Hear echoes of Vollenweider in the title cut and a strong dose of Alpert on Babylon Samba. Though the former songs serve to make Chameleon the most musically accessible Stanko album for the uninitiated, long-time fans will be delighted by the more austere and cerebral approach they have come to expect on cuts like Euforila, Balladella, Green Song, Gray Flower, and Illusion. Four of those five are the only cuts composed jointly by all members of this incarnation of Stanko's trio. I find it funny that it took the compositional efforts of fellow musicians Janusz Skowron and Apostolis Anthimos to keep Stanko from straying too far from his roots.
I doubt that Chameleon will be widely distributed and that's a shame, because it has a sound which would surely broaden Stanko's fan base. If you are a fan of Tomasz Stanko on any level and do not yet own this, don't hesitate to get it while it remains available. You are in for an aural surprise."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1