Exceptional piano recording of classic oldies played in a style described by critics as "a cross between Liberace and Bill Evans"

14 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Piano Jazz, POP: Piano

Show all album songs: Tenderly Songs


Details:
On this CD you will hear the 1930's and 40's pop songs played like never before. With deep soul conveyed through the songs, many mistake this music for classical because the execution of each piece has the same elegance and virtuosity of a classical pianist. Nevertheless, some variation is expressed through polymorphic rhythms while maintaining the familiarity of the beautifully romantic melodies and chords as originally written by each composer.

REVIEWS

"The best pianist from Boston to Maine!"
-a fan

"Ms. Wyndham plays with good dynamics...passion and emotion. Very technically played."
-Robert L. Daniels - Variety Magazine

"Good fingering techniques and a light touch. The music displays considerable style variation from mood music....to jazz and pop. This music is enjoyable to listen to and entertaining."
-Nancy Milen - Audio Review

"'The Atmosphere' is a composition requiring the pianist to have advanced piano training. Deborah Wyndham does have the skills in composing. The execution of this composition shows off her expertise and abilities as a pianist."
-Dean FH Macy - Epilogue Records (a review of the artist as a composer)

"Deborah's album "Tenderly" is powerful, good medicine with a unique and mysterious quality in her style. She is a very talented practitioner of rhythmic bimetric polymorphism. This means she plays in two time signatures (or meters) at once and her creativity is expressed by morphing (seamlessly transitioning) her emphasis between these two signatures and short segments of almost free form time. On one tune, I was stunned to hear a segment in which she was clearly maintaining three simultaneous time signatures (2/2, 4/4 and 12/8) while adding creative elements on top (trimetric polymorphism!!!). If there existed a sophisticated enough listener on the staff of the Guinness Book of World Records this might be one for the book!

She plays the melodies and chords (except for some arppegiation and embellishment tones) of all the tunes strait as written. Yet, the genius of her rhythm alone creates an amazing experience for the listener. The reason is, when a typical jazz style piano musical performance is given, within the first two measures of the composition being played by the performer, a tacit and subliminal understanding is established by the performer to the listener regarding time and meter. The performer will then engage in chordal and improvisational single note line expression (which can be very exciting). However, no further challenge to this rhythm agreement is made throughout the rest of the tune. She, however makes no simple deals regarding rhythm with the listener up front. She pulls them onto the Deborah Wyndham world of bimetric polymorphic rhythm creativity and she doesn't need any edgy chords or lines! She does it to 'em with the rhythm alone and the intrinsic beauty of the original composition. This is why listening to her is unlike any other piano listening experience!!!

Deborah right now is playing at a very high level of skill and has not even cracked the lid on the tool box of the traditional strait jazz style pianist. The creative expression of almost all traditional jazz style pianists is in the domain of melodic and harmonic improvisation. The subtle and delicate rhythmic expression which is the hallmark of her playing is almost never heard as the primary mode of expression. In fact, there are probably very few chord and note mavens that could do it!!"
-Steve Durgin, Jazz Musician - "Tenderly" CD review (Oct. 2007)

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Deborah Wyndham is one of New England's leading pianists of pop and original music. Having performed for over 2,000 audiences in the last seven years, she began her professional career while in high school. Her music has been heard recorded and in live performance on various radio stations such as NPR. Her audiences have repeatedly described her playing as sounding at times like four hands. Recently, her style has been desribed as "a cross between Liberace and Bill Evans".

With an unparalleled elegance rarely seen these days by young artists, her music is not only pleasing to the ears, but a visual display of advanced technique. Frequently asked if she is a graduate of Julliard or Berklee, Deborah studied piano only in her youth for five years, beginning at age eight. Within two years she began performing original, unedited versions of Scott Joplin rags which she learned on her own and eventually ceased classical lessons, continuing her love of piano through ragtime music. Later on, she discovered some jazz techniques from friends, but her music has inevitably developed into a refined and sophisticated style due to her early classical training. In this way she plays her own arrangements of pop songs and music of other styles.

Having also performed in different capacities with musical groups of varying genres, she has an eclectic repertoire ranging from pop, jazz, fusion, contemporary, celtic, and ragtime. She currently writes beautifully haunting contemporary music. In 2002 she recorded her first piano instrumental album "Night and Day" and now in 2007 has released her second album of pop piano music entitled "Tenderly". Because of her versatility and ability to accommodate every audience, Deborah has performed in many types of venues from private and public events to the concert stage.

Although her career has been solely piano performance for the last seven years, prior to that she released two EP's of folk originals with vocals and guitar. She is currently taking time off from her concert schedule for composition and recording two new albums, but plays locally in other venues in New England on a regular basis.