Dreams and False Alarms

Andy Milne is one of the truly original voices in the music world today. It’s hard for me to be delighted, surprised or shocked at what I hear anymore, but Andy manages to do it to me.

A strong focused statement from an excellent improviser who understands something of the art of writing, its jazz, classical and pop manifestations and what might make a real composition more than a pattern of notes…Milne uses his well-weighted, communicative touch at the keyboard to ensure that the story of the song is not lost in a blizzard of sound, as can often by the case when solo performers see silence as adversary rather than ally.

Jazz musicians have a long-standing tradition of using popular songs as a basis for both composition and improvisation….Pianist Andy Milne adds some surprises to this legacy…For instance, who knew that there was some Monk to be found in the harmonic structure of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Amelia’? A dark elegance is brought out of ‘Message In A Bottle,’ performed as a dirgy blues…The centerpiece of this collection is the reworking of ‘The Times They Are A Changin.’ Beginning with a Tibetan singing bowl strike, that familiar melody is slowly brought forth before dissolving into a four-chord ostinato. With that insistent singing bowl floating over everything, it’s tough to not think of the universal appeal of the original song’s message. It’s somehow comforting to me to know that there are others out there who can draw a thread through so many disparate elements of life, to know that music in particular is an integral part of life as opposed to just some ancillary activity. Miles and Coltrane knew it. Add one to the list

It’s probably best to approach this recording as an examination into Milne’s current state of harmonic construction. The way he overlaps and builds upper-partial chordal-units into blocks of almost polytonal complexity within the framework of 11 non-traditional jazz compositions is, while out of the ordinary, a worthwhile voyage…There is nothing vaguely approaching hard swing within, but for those looking for an intellectual yet heartfelt introspective approach to the music of today, Milne presents exciting possibilities…Highlights include a deeply moving version of Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’.’ Using an ostinato block-chord rhythmic figure as an underpinning, Milne places the melody’s fragments into a prism through which Dylan’s lines are rendered in one of the warmest renditions yet recorded. The all-too-short original ‘Sensei-tions’ is a marvelous nugget in the mode of Bartok’s short ‘Microcosmos.’…Looking back years from now, one can’t but believe this anthology of works will be one of his most cherished.

Milne’s talent is unequivocal — he was saxophonist Steve Coleman’s pianist of choice for many years — so a solo session is an understandable and exciting new challenge for the gregarious former pupil of Canada’s northern stars Oscar Peterson and Don Thompson…The pianist takes off, unraveling newfound landscapes miles away from his usual urban, M-BASE base…while we anxiously wait for his next projects, one rests assured in the searching pianist’s ability to reach inspiring new plateaus.

Milne’s resistance to creative stasis and the status quo help make each of his new releases intriguing in a different way than the last…A New Yorker by choice, Andy Milne apparently retains some of the pastoral temperament that draws from his Canadian birthright.