Track Listing

1. Across the Crystal Sea
2. Rays and Shadows
3. Lazy Afternoon
4. The Purple Condor
5. If I Forget You
6. (All of a sudden) My Heart Sings
7. The Saga of Rita Joe
8. Another Autumn

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17420 in Music
• Released on: 2008-08-26
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Across the Crystal Sea is the latest chapter in Pérez's extraordinary career as a pianist and bandleader who delivers a distinctive blend of Pan-American jazz that covers the music of the Americas, folkloric and world music. He's not only impressed critics (for example, The New York Times' Ben Ratliff writing that he is "a bold example of the musicological rethinking of jazz"), but also fellow musicians. Wayne Shorter says that Pérez "has all of the attributes of a performer, conductor, impresario and purveyor of musical expression greatly needed in these uncertain times" while Herbie Hancock says that Pérez is "not afraid of anything."

Ben Ratliff- NEW YORK TIMES
"When the dust settles, the pianist DANILO PEREZ will be looking like one of the best things that happened to jazz around the turn of the millennium. This Panamanian musician is literate in Latin American rhythms, and so part of the wave of the recent, more culturally specific and vastly improved Latin jazz scene. But he is also, in a larger sense, defining post-Hancock, post-Jarrett mainstream jazz piano, with his harmonic knowledge and his will to make a piano trio exciting and fluid."

From the Artist
"This was a big test for me," says Pérez, the Panama-born, Boston-based pianist who has been a member of Wayne Shorter's quartet for several years. "My experience with Wayne taught me how to go to unknown places. But when it came to working with Claus, it was another kind of adventure where I was called upon to touch the lyrical side of my playing. Claus is a master of colors. As the musical director, he provided me with both a story and a landscape, and then told me, 'I want you to paint.'"

Customer Reviews

Strings + Danilo Perez Trio = Pure Musical Bliss
First of all, I'm surprised that nobody has written a review for this album yet. Boy, when you hear it you'll want to own it, let me just get that out of the way.

Danilo Perez is, for those unaware of him, a jazz pianist that has played with way too many jazz greats to list here, but he's paid his dues and has established himself as an intelligent, passionate pianist. He also has that certain Latin feel to some of his lines, which helps to get things cooking.

Here is the lineup for this record:

Danilo Perez - Piano
Christian McBride - Bass
Lewis Nash - Drum
Luis Quintero - Percussion
Cassandra Wilson - Vocal (on two tracks)

All arrangements by Claus Ogerman who's arranging talents can be heard from the late, great Bill Evans, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Diana Krall, amongst others. He does a brilliant job with the string sections, which once you hear them you'll see why he's one of the best arrangers out there today.

The music on this recording is pure musical bliss. Anyone interested in jazz piano trio with string arrangements then look no further. Pick this one up today!

Encore
What a great recording! When I got this, a couple of months ago when it first came out, I almost cried when I played it. It was so like another favorite of mine, the Bill Evans Trio with Symphony Orchestra recording. Finally. Danilo's playing and Ogerman's arranging/conducting are superb. This is not to be missed. And if you like this you may also want to pick up The Gary McFarland Orchestra with Special Guest Soloist: Bill Evans, Bill Evans: Symbiosis with Eddie Gomez, Claus Ogerman - Two Concertos, Gary McFarland's soundtrack to The Eye of the Devil, and Gary McFarland with Steve Kuhn on October Suite. Great music!

Piano, voice and strings
My review for this record is simple : MARVELOUS, TOUCHING...There is no weakness, everything is so well balanced, the piano, the orchestra, the voice and of course the arrangements of a real craftsman for many years, Claus Ogerman is a bliss for every musiclover. More of those records and you forget your daily sorrows, believe me.