Under Duress – Eddie Hession, Accordion Chris Grist, Cello and The London Concertante Eddie Hession is a sensitive accordionist! He is very intuitive about the natural beauty of the accordion sound, never forces the reeds and never ruins the phrase with unnecessary or inappropriate movement of the bellows; in other words, he is making beautiful music with his instrument. I admire his playing and cannot fault him for anything; yet, at some time on this particular recording, I just wished for some blood and guts to show up in a few pieces interspersed among those already on the CD. The pieces, while different and showing a variety of compositional skills and composer personalities, still had a certain sameness. I wondered how they could be performed in a live performance, in this exact order, and still maintain the total attention and interest of the listening audience. That is why I wished for a bit of difference or more variety in the recording. With those comments, however, I must say it is fine playing of repertoire that I liked. The Chick Corea music would be great teaching pieces for students working to control some newly acquired free bass skills or for those students interested in the compositional skills of the legendary Chick Corea. In the Gordon piece, Eddi-Fis Suite, (great title!), we hear some nice walking bass with perhaps a bit of improvisation by Eddie. Jessie Dreams with the London Concertante is just that: dreamy! But the other composition by Gordon, Greenland, is the one that catches my ears with the use of rhythm and the interaction between the two hands. There is a wonderful blend of the accordion with strings…just perfect. There is also a good affinity between the accordion and the cello in the Summerhayes Onwards & Downwards but probably even more so in the Bill Evans Peace Peace which was a wonderful ending to the recording. I liked the Astor Piazzolla piece Invierno porteño, too, but perhaps this was one piece where I hoped for a bit more excitement with a feel of being in the Teatro Regina. Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas, the nod to Vivaldi and in which one may hear those traces in the closing bars of Invierno porteño, was given its premiere on May 19, 1970 in a concert of the 10th Anniversary of Astor Piazzolla and his Quintet. Chris Grist, who also played fine cello on the recording, produced the CD Under Duress by Eddie Hession. It is thoroughly enjoyable listening and I recommend it. Reviewed by Joan Cochran Sommers, April 18, 2007 |
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