The maturity of an artist is built on how far and how well the
artist pursues an idea. For Narada Burton Greene, the musical idea is the one
that he is playing at the moment. Although he may have something in mind before
he starts a solo concert, like the one at Kerrytown Concert House, in Ann
Arbor, Michigan, where he begins is where he begins and where he ends has a simple
resonant conclusion, the seventy-eight minutes in between equivalent of a short
evolution.
On Live at Kerrytown
House, the music is thematic, tends to be quiet, slightly explosive, adhering
to Greene’s sense of humor, lyricism and even romantic melody. He does not play
without minor improvisational discords and cantankerous fingerings. For it is
with these juxtapositions that Greene maintains the utmost integrity and
musicianship. He has collaborated with and arranged compositions by associates,
including longtime colleague Silke Röllig. With Röllig, he has created some of
the most evocative contemporary piano music that there is.
The miracle of Greene’s music is its never-ending luster. Not
one piece in this performance eludes its brightness or demonstrates lack of respect
for the instrument he plays.
“Freebop” for Greene implies as much grace as going off an
edge; the three versions here are all different yet in some ways very much the
same. The intermittent sounds of a couple of the small percussive instruments
he carries with him to every performance are a joy to hear: they are brief
hiatuses in the currency of the
pianistic flow. “Prevailence” and “Greene Mansions” exemplify compositions
where the main musical subject acts as an armature off which filigreed vagaries
can weave and return, like vines on a trellis.
It is not difficult to detect the language that governs Greene’s playing: the ascending and descending chordal runs or marches; the
two-handed chord systems that move up the keyboard from which stream tuneful treble explorations; or the stopping and starting of his process so that he can
reassess and re-commence with a possible repetition of ideas.
Greene is no longer interested in smashing things across the
piano sounding board as he once was in order to prove that free expression is
admissible. Rather, as he knows deeply now, he makes a statement no matter how he portrays
the richness of his life, from Chicago to New York to Amsterdam, where he has
spent most of his adulthood. His concentration is unswerving; his dedication to
his art unabashed.
The sage that he is, as his Yogic name Narada indicates, Burton
Greene embraces an essential cultural core in his music. He never flounders and
always is pondering the next step, whether that be for a solo or group context.
Coming out of a meditative state of solitude or the conviviality of others,
Greene is giving us his truth of self.
Freebop the 4th; Tree; Freebop the 1st;
Prevailence; Greene Mansions; Little Song; Elevation; Freebop the 6th;
Don't Forget the Poet; Get Through It; Space Is Still The Place.
