Friday, 1 May 2020

Michael Harrison - In Flight (1987)

Ignore the slightly corny album cover - this album is sublime.  From the mid 80s, American pianist Michael Harrison pioneered the "harmonic piano", using just intonation.  The second and third tracks here are played in this arrangement, adding a whole new angle on the solo piano genre that had become seriously overcrowded by 1987.  The Swan Has Flown To The Mountain Lake in particular is a gorgeous piece, and the longest on the album.

Reverting to standard intonation elsewhere, Harrison proves himself a great melodic and harmonic player with a nimble, meditative touch.  The opening title track had appeared on a Windham Hill piano sampler in 1985 (which I'm sure I have on cassette somewhere), but rather than commit to the label Harrison stepped sideways to another New Age powerhouse, Fortuna, for this album.  It's well produced, with just enough reverb to work in favour of this beautiful, sometimes trancelike music.

link
pw: sgtg
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

5 comments:

  1. A. N. Other1 May 2020 at 17:38

    "Ignore the slightly corny album cover"

    Big ask there, my man. Very big ask.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1 May 2020 at 22:07

    Thanks, sounds interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. icastico2 May 2020 at 05:10

    Reminds of Jordan De La Sierra - which is a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan Burns3 May 2020 at 00:15

      Oh yeah right enough, I hear that. I posted Gymnosphere a while back, must give it some more rotation.

      Delete
  4. BT2 May 2020 at 16:33

    Many thanks

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)