Ziemba's Manhattan Lullaby

Bruce Von Stiers

Chris Ziemba was the winner of the 2011 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. He's played with Ted Nash and Marcus Printup and with the Gil Evans Project. Chris has led both trios and quartets.

Now Chris has taken things to a whole new level with his debut recording. The title of this album is Manhattan Lullaby. It is being released on the Outside In Music label.

The album has eight songs and a play time of fifty-three minutes. Seven of the songs were composed by Chris. He provided the arrangements for the other song. Chris Sulit at Trading 8s Studio recorded the album and David Darlington at the Bass Hit Studio did the mixing and mastering.

Michael Thomas plays alto sax and bass clarinet on the album. He has recorded with Bridget Davis and other people as well as conducting and leading his own musical groups. Hans Glawischnig has been around the New York jazz scene for a long time, having played and recorded with some of the top names in jazz. Hans lends his considerable talents on bass to this album. Jimmy Macbride started a group as a young kid called Jimmy and the Hasbeens, which raised money for the music program at his school. Since then he has studied, performed and recorded with many top names in jazz. Now in his mid-20's, Jimmy adds his drumming talents to the songs on this album.

The first song on the album is Josie. It is a moderately paced piece that highlights the piano expertise of Chris while accenting all of the artists in the background.

The Road Less Traveled is the second song. It has a nice mellow sax sound with bass and drums. About a third of the way through the song Chris and his piano take over the lead.

The title track, Manhattan Lullaby, has subtle bass and clarinet. That along with light drums and discreet piano make this a nice and easy classic styled piece.

Harry Warren wrote many hit songs during his career. One of those songs was I Wish I Knew. Chris does a real good job with the song with his arrangement. There is great piano and a terrific bass solo in the song.

Escher's Loop is a bit hard to describe. There are moderately paced piano riffs, then things slow down only to pick back up again. All with the bass and drums complementing each segment of piano.

Wandering begins as a slow and endearing song of the type that you might find yourself dancing with your honey in a moonlit garden. Then things speed up a bit. But not too much. Chris has some interesting bits of piano in the song.

Little T is a fast paced song with strong sax and bass. It is a fun, toe-tapping piece.

The album closes with An Introspective. It is a soft and easy song with solid piano at its core.

As the album title suggests, this is primarily an easy listening piano based album. The compositions are well crafted and each musician complements whoever has the spotlight in a song.

You can get a copy of Manhattan Lullaby through the Outside In Music web site at https://oim.selz.com/item/56e2de3a6edca00ef4412058

To find out more about Chris Ziemba and his music visit his official web site or his band page on Facebook. The official site is http://www.chrisziemba.com/ . The Facebook band page is https://www.facebook.com/chrisziembamusic/

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© 2016 Bruce E Von Stiers