Solitude: Solo Improvisations

Moments of absolute bliss....Pellegrin does as the great pianists do, providing encouragement and graceful touches in the background, before jumping forward to take solos that are by turns florid and cracked, balletic and modern. Downbeat. Having released three powerful, boundary-crossing quintet records over the past decade, Rich Pellegrin turns to a small historic church, a piano, and an abundance of open time for "Solitude," a set of contemplative improvisations. Recorded at Whidbey Island's charming Langley Methodist Church, near Seattle, Pellegrin captures the spirit of place in these times, exploring the wide-open spaces of the mind and reconnecting with water, mountains and forest. The piano itself, also a relic with it's own idiosyncrasies and character, is another personality in the performance as it's creaks and exhortations suggested paths for the performance to wander. An accomplished musical mind with sweeping, far-reaching intentions offers, with "Solitude," the freedom to just "be."