For those unaware, pianist-composer Bruce Wolosoff is a musical alchemist, organically mixing his multiple experiences in the worlds of jazz, rock, blues and classical music. His new solo album, Memento, melds the evolution of Wolosoff’s performance and compositional style into a genre that is all his own and true to himself.

Wolosoff is a “formidable pianist,” (Gramophone) “who can tackle the great romantics like Busoni and Liszt. He can improvise like Bach and Beethoven as well as today’s jazz greats. His contemporary compositions are informed by his past whilst imbued with his current belief in “the primacy of lyricism and melody.”

BRUCE WOLOSOFF (b. 1955)
1. Siempre (4.49)
2. Morning Song (4.21)
3. Improvisation on a Ground by Henry Purcell (2.45)
4. After the Rain (3.28)
5. Memento (4.51)
6. Letter to a Friend (2.33)
7. City Lights (2.15)
8. The Lotus Eaters (3.48)
9. Dido’s Blues (4.34)

Night Paintings
10. I. I’ve Got It All Up Here (after a painting by David Salle) (5.04)
11. II. Evening on Karl Johan Street (after a painting by Edvard Munch) (2.38)
12. III. La Nuit étoilée sur le Rhône (after a painting by Vincent van Gogh) (4.45)
13. IV. Nocturnal (after a painting by Margaret Garrett) (4.37)

One of the most distinguished composer-pianists of his generation, Bruce Wolosoff opens this truly heartfelt, organic new recording with the veritably crystalline Siempre and the cinematically-charming Morning Song, the ornately-sculptured Improvisation on a Ground by Henry Purcell and then we get the magically-flowing After the Rain and the pronounced musical architecture of the titular Memento.

Along next is the stoic, but nonetheless textured Letter to a Friend which is turn followed by the quietly frenetic City Lights, this part of the recording rounding out on the stillness within The Lotus Eaters and the perceivable tranquility of Dido’s Blues.

We are then treated to the quartet within Night Paintings, and which opens on the gently playful, maybe even mischievous I’ve Got It All Up Here, the vivaciously precocious Evening on Karl Johan Street, the whole album coming to a close on the solitude experienced within La Nuit étoilée sur le Rhône and the uncompromising resolution within Nocturnal.

Simply put, Memento takes the listener on a journey imbued by various genres. Throughout, Wolosoff opens his heart. His inner voice is his guide, and all his own.

Official Purchase Link

Official Website