The Painter, by John Boswell

The Painter

by John Boswell

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1.	Mafu 03:39	buy track
2.	London: 1892 / Robert Adrian Edwards / The Painter Part 1 03:41	buy track
3.	Mona Claire 03:06	buy track
4.	Thanks 04:21	buy track
5.	Child's Eyes 04:13	buy track
6.	Four A.M. 04:10	buy track
7.	The Quilt 03:13	buy track
8.	The Path 05:34	buy track
9.	Back to York 03:09	buy track
10.	James and the Giant Peach 04:16	buy track
11.	Pleiades 05:14	buy track
12.	Frontiers 05:52	buy track

about

"The Painter enhances the portrait of John Boswell as an evocative pianist."
- All Music Guide

The intimate solo piano improvisations and gently stirring "sound paintings" John Boswell performed on The Painter are among the most evocative and emotionally relevant compositions in his repertoire. There's a freshness to the twelve selections featured that stems from the timeless images and emotions that originally inspired Boswell to create this music. The ultimate test of a recording's worth is not how far it climbs the charts during the first six months of its release, but how people react to it five or six years down the road. With tastes changing and technological innovations developing at a feverish pace, many recordings that hit the mark the moment they left the factory sound dated, often laughably so, as time goes on. The reason is quite simple: when the glossy veneer of the latest fad tarnishes and wears away, the artistry, inspiration, and emotional substance of the music - or lack thereof - are mercilessly exposed.

JOHN BOSWELL's album, The Painter, has passed this difficult test. When the warm, richly romantic solo piano album was recorded back in 1988, listeners fell in love with it - those who were able to find it, that is. As the first of two Boswell discs released on the short-lived independent label Scarlet Records, The Painter didn't get the distribution or national attention it deserved. Even so, the lyricism, grace, and sincerity Boswell exhibited on The Painter, and his subsequent Scarlet release, Kindred Spirits, garnered a growing following of ardent fans despite the music's lack of mainstream exposure. It also brought Boswell's highly appealing style to the attention of Hearts of Space Records, leading to a pair of ensemble-based HOS recordings that provided a showcase for Boswell's talents as a band leader as well as a pianist/composer.

Yet after all these years, the intimate solo piano improvisations and gently stirring "sound paintings" Boswell performed on The Painter are among the most evocative and emotionally relevant compositions in his repertoire. There's a freshness to the twelve selections featured that stems from the timeless images and emotions that originally inspired Boswell to create this music.

Now that Hearts of Space Records has remastered and repackaged it, Boswell's first effort will at last find the audience it has long deserved. The Painter is one of those rare piano records to live with and savor again and again.

credits

released February 15, 1994

All music composed, arranged, performed and produced by John Boswell
Digitally recorded at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California
Engineer: Devon Bernadoni Assistant Engineer: Michael Semanick
Mastering: Bob Olhsson
Cover Painting: John Derry, with Painter X2
Inlay Image Processing: Stephen Hill, with Painter X2
Original Artist Photo: John Hammitt
Design: Hilary Davis and Stephen Hill

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Hearts of Space Records New York, New York

Hearts of Space Records | A Valley Entertainment Label

Launched in 1984, this record label was created as an extension of the weekly syndicated radio show Hearts of Space. Centered around contemplative music, the label features music from the ambient, new age, electronic, world, Celtic, classical, and experimental genres. ... more

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