Little Blackbird: Klezmer, Romanian, Greek, Turkish, and Hungarian music
Featured artist: Sandra Layman, violinist
Release date: December 14, 2001
Label: Rosin Dust MusicTM (RD-CD 101)
Duration: 74 minutes; Number of tracks: 35; tracklist
Musicians and instrumentation for each track
Listen to audio clips at CD Baby.
"...beautiful music played by a wonderful musician."
- Stacy Phillips, Fiddler Magazine, Summer 2002 issue
Stacy Phillips' review of Little Blackbird
from Fiddler Magazine, Summer 2002 issue
Following is the complete text of the review of Little Blackbird by Stacy Phillips, as it was published in May 2002, in the Summer 2002 print issue (page 47) of Fiddler Magazine. It is reproduced here with the permission of the author and the magazine.
*****
Sandra Layman
Little Blackbird - Klezmer, Greek, Romanian, Turkish and Hungarian Music
[Rosin Dust, www.sandralayman.com]
Little Blackbird is a compilation of cuts from several concerts in which Sandra Layman was featured during 1982-'85. All were recorded at various venues in the Seattle, Washington, area. The subtitle says it all about the spectrum of music here. It is great to have such a wide range of related styles (and tricky, demanding tunes) presented so clearly with superb technique. Layman catches the nuances of the genres so, for example, her Klezmer playing does not sound like her take on Romanian pieces. The latter are my favorites. There is a mysterious scarcity of albums featuring the Romanian Gypsy violin style with its forest frenzy and scalar madness. The sound of a long bow with a cymbalom trilling away is wild -- the East European version of fiddle and banjo.
There is excellent and sensitive accompaniment by diverse hands (including, notably for fiddle fans, Hank Bradley) on guitar, cymbalom, piano, clarinet, and second violin. Most cuts have one collaborator, but there are up to four on a piece. Little Blackbird is a strong selection of 35 tunes (some in medleys) and a very generous 75 minutes of music. It can serve as a fine introduction to the violin of East Europe and West Asia, but it stands on its own as beautiful music played by a wonderful musician.
- Stacy Phillips
---------
Notes by Sandra Layman about the above:
1. The CD is 74 minutes long (well, actually, 73:59).
2. The word order of "Romanian" and "Greek" in the CD's subtitle got switched in the review. It should read: Klezmer, Greek, Romanian, Turkish and
Hungarian Music.
-sl
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*****
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Last modified: July 7, 2002
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