From: Pete Fyfe
[petefyfe_at_aol_dot_com]
Sent: 26 March 2012 15:37
Subject: Pete Fyfe - James Ross:
Chasing The Sun CD review
Attachments: James_Ross_-_Chasing_The_Sun.jpg
JAMES ROSS - Chasing The Sun
(Trinkie Records TR001)
Sitting here in my flat with the
gradually diminishing lights of the neighbourhood dancing like a demented
?Tinkerbell' from Peter Pan at 02:26am can't do much for my health?or so my
doctor keeps telling me. Still, here I am and at least I've got the sounds of
James Ross for company. Perhaps in another world I'd be somewhere like the
Shetlands for if this album can't provide that inner sense of tranquillity I
don't know what else can. Opening with the starkly brooding beauty of "Beyond
The Strath" the single piano note introduction sets the tone of what is to
unfold and by glancing at the accompanying sleeve photographs courtesy of
Catriona Murray you get a real sense of time of space. Lounging around in a
comfy arm chair with my headphones on (so as not to disturb "she who must be
obeyed") and my feet up I'm quite happy being transported to the majestic
battle scarred hills and water lapped lochs created by Ross's imaginative
soundscape. In sculpting this audio image he is aided and abetted by various
wind and string instruments whose textures emphasise the ever evolving time
signatures in a showcase of creative thinking extending the links of jazz
sensitivities with a nod to traditional themes. Evoking memories of Michael
O'Suilleabhain yet miles away from the days of Russ Conway's "Sidesaddle" in
his own way James ?entertains' albeit on a slightly more highbrow note. www.jamesrossmusic.co.uk
PETE FYFE