New Improvised Jazz CD Released

A NOTE FROM FRED, DECEMBER 2012

Dear Friends:

I am excited to announce the release of my first improvised jazz CD: When Summer Comes. Recorded on a gorgeous Steinway concert grand, the tunes are mostly well-loved standards but include a few lesser-known ones by Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans, and even one by me. This is a quiet intimate CD — hopefully nice to listen to when you are in a thoughtful mood, and even something to have in the background.

\Also new to JRI Recordings’ catalog: the re-release of four of my early recordings, originally on the GM and Biddulph labels. We have published one of them, the complete cello-piano works of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, with Nancy Green, as a “CDBook,” — for more information about our unique elegant and environmentally friendly packaging visit www.jrirecordings.com/cdbook/. I’m excited to say that we now have CDBook versions of J102, J104, J106, J111, J113, J122, J131 and J132.

\We have also re-released on CDBook J104: Of Old and New: A Grandfather’s Tale which coincides with recitals I am currently playing to commemorate music of my grandfather’s childhood, essentially a hundred years ago. The five or six years leading up to World War I were fascinating and turbulent years in music — the Romantic Era still flourished with all of its drama, sentiment and virtuosity, while a restless breed of composers forged many of the important paths that composers followed throughout the rest of the century.

\With best wishes for the Holidays,

– Fred\

FOUR RELEASES SET FOR DECEMBER

Fred and JRI Recordings are pleased to announce that four new recordings are set to be released in December 2012. The first three are reissues featuring some of Fred’s early recordings on the GM label. These recordings include works by Bach, Rachmaninoff, Haydn, Brahms, Ravel, Prokofiev and others.

   Frederick Moyer, pianist: Early Recordings Volumes 1-3:

           
Fred’s other forthcoming CD is titled When Summer Comes and is his first fully improvised jazz CD. This recording will include Fred’s take on works by Oscar Peterson, Rogers & Hammerstein and many others. When Summer Comes also features an original piece by Fred titled “Gospel.”

   When Summer Comes:

OCTOBER 12th 2012: THE JAZZ ARTS TRIO PERFORMANCE AT THE PITTSFIELD JAZZ FESTIVAL RECEIVES GREAT PRESS

Fred and the Jazz Arts Trio were headliners at the 2012 Pittsfield Jazz festival (held October 4th through the 13th) in Pittsfield, MA. Their performance was held on October 12th at the Barrington Stage in downtown Pittsfield. The performance included works from both of their acclaimed albums: Tribute (2008) and Swing of Many Colors (2012). To read the article written on Fred and the Jazz Arts Tio at the Pittsfield Music Festival Click Here

Fred also took some time away from his busy schedule to give Pittsfield students from the local Reid and Herberg middle schools, a morning presentation on the connections between classical music and jazz. To read more about his presentation in the Berkshire Eagle Click here..

Frederick Meyer conducts a workshop in jazz piano at the Berkshire Museum projecting his hands onto the piano for the audience to see. Thursday Oct 11, 2012 (GARVER)

(Above: Fred uses his Keyboard OmniViewer in a presentation for the students of Pittsfield)

To read more about the Pittsfield Jazz Festival Click here.

SWING OF MANY COLORS

Fred’s Jazz Arts Trio has been receiving some excellent press for their recent release Swing of Many Colors, on the JRI Recordings label .

Jay Harvey of the Indianapolis Star calls the release “… an inspired tribute” and states that “Moyer, Tillotson and Fraenkel spiritedly recapture the rapport of Jamal with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier.”

John Henry of Audiophile Audition calls Swing of Many Colors “… a delight to hear” and gives it a 5/5 star rating.

C.J. Bond of Jazmuzic.com states: “I was amazed by my initial visceral reaction to George and Ira Gershwin’s ‘But Not For Me.’ This was more than just a transcription and re-interpretation of an influential jazz classic, this was an uncannily accurate transcription of time and history, personal and musical. … Rogers and Hammerstein’s ‘The Surrey With the Fringe on Top’ made my knees weak… by the time Karl Suessdorf /John Blackburn’s ‘Moonlight in Vermont’ crested, I needed something to hold on to. … What is important, and ultimately will be enduring about Swing of Many Colors is the effect it has on its listeners. It is the effect that removes any doubt about the need for such an interpretive retrospective, and makes moot such questions as: Why? Is it necessary?”

George Carroll, of cabaretexchange.com, calls the trio “a dead ringer to re-illustrate the talents of such luminaries as Oscar Peterson, Jarrett, McPartland, Chick … ” He goes on to say “… the group deals successfully  in viable syncopated accents and infectiously gay artistry in their musical output resulting in recreating with near military precision the art of those that have preceded us.”

12/1/2012