Matters of Balance – Richard Carr
Last night as I looked down the Zone Music Reporter Top 100 Airplay Chart the album at number 7 caught my eye. The album was titled Matters of Balance and the artist was Richard Carr. The album cover looked pretty cool and I had never heard of Richard Carr so I opened up Spotify to check the album out. So I put the album on an picked up my book and started to read. Pretty soon I was doing more listening than reading!!
I turned to the album again this afternoon and once again the album won when going head to head with my book Connectography by Parag Khanna. While it was obviously that the main instrument on the album was piano, the accompanying instruments were terrific. They included: trumpet, violin, cello, drums and more.
About Richard Carr
Today, I visited Richard Carr’s website where I learned more about Mr. Carr. Richard Carr is in fact a contemporary pianist and composer. He currently resides in Monterey, California. Richard was born and raised in St. Louis. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Richard worked for 10 years in the night clubs, hotels and restaurants of the French Quarter of New Orleans. After Katrina Richard moved back to the St Louis area where he worked as a free-lance pianist and private teacher.
During his career Carr has released fourteen solo albums and one collaborative album in the contemporary instrumental /new age genre.His compositional process is improvisational.His concerts many times begin with a new creation/improvisation. Richard believes that this approach permits the passion and emotion of his music to come front and center.
About Matters of Balance
Matters of Balance was recorded at Imaginary Road Studio with Will Ackerman (of Windham Hill Records fame) as co-producer. It is Carr’s first recording with other instrumentalists. Carr writes this about the album on his website….
Matters of Balance is my first solo album with other instrumentalists. With Will Ackerman and Tom Eaton at the helm in Will Ackerman’s Imaginary Road Studio this project has blossomed into something I hadn’t imagined. Although my main mode of creating is still deep in improvisation, with a few adjustments to my process and some slight adjustments by Will and Tom we all agree that we have something very special to give you.
The other instrumentalists who appear on the album and in my opinion make it special include: Jill Haley, English Horn, Jeff Oster, Flugelhorn , Premik Russell Tubbs, Soprano Sax, Eugene Friesen, Cello , Charlie Bisharat, Violin, Jeff Haynes, Percussion, Noah Wilding, Vocals ,Tom Eaton, Bass , Michael Manring, Fretless Bass
Bottom Line:
Matters of Balance is a beautiful album.Kudos to both Richard Carr for his eight great compositions and to Will Ackerman and Tom Eaton as co-producers. As well as, all the accompanying musicians. It is definitely a 4 thumbs up album!! So Check it Out!!
Links for Additional Exploration of the Music of Richard Carr
Artist Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
CDBaby
SoundCloud
Here is the opening track from Matters of Balance – “Ascendance”
Here is some additional facts about Richard Carr, you may want to check out. From his website….
Since May 1, 2011 Richard has been working on the Year of Music project. A new unreleased creation is posted on his website each day. These creations draw from the last 5 years of Richard’s creative activity. Each creation is recorded in real time with no editing or layering of tracks. The Year of Music project since August 1, 2012 can be found at www.SoundCloud.com/richard-carr .
Aware of the meditative quality of his music, Richard has been exploring the healing side of his music. Working in the holistic community of St. Louis, Richard has developed the I AM Creative Sessions. These sessions are personal sessions in which Richard creates music for the client’s intention or focus. In essence, he creates a soundtrack for the intention.
