Wintersmith's Walk In The Woods

Bruce Von Stiers

Terrence Wintersmith is a pianist and keyboard player whose career spans over forty years. He's worked with Laura Branigan, Chet Atkins and Floyd Cramer among other notable vocalists and musicians. Through a studio he purchased, Takoma Studios, Wintersmith worked with people like Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal.

Wintersmith turned his talents to jazz with the trio he formed with his wife Patricia called Triad. From there he went on to become label manager for Artifex Records. He had previously worked for Chrysalis Records. And Wintersmith put together a kiddie rock group called Treetop Sisters that featured his three young daughters.

These days finds Wintersmith with a whole new project. It is an EP that features original compositions by Wintersmith. The title of the EP is A Walk In The Woods.

Wintersmith produced the EP and it is being released by Addictive 2 Music. The EP contains six songs and has a play time of twenty-one minutes.

For this project Wintersmith assembled a group of nineteen artists, all of whom bring exceptional talent to the recordings. Carina Bruwer plays the flute. Gergo Bille is on trumpet. Charles Tidwell plays the flugelhorn. Chris White and Jeff Coffin are on saxophone. Zakhar Valaha plays violin. The guitar players on the EP are Marcel Camargo, Fred Bogert and Bruno EIizabetsky. Frederick Boyle is on piano and Eivind Opsvik plays the bass. There are three drummers on the EP. They are Chester Thompson, Chuck Sabo and Brian Griffin. Larry Salzman and Tom Roady handle the percussion. The vocals were done by David E. Greene, Jessica Jeza Vauter and Patricia Lee. Wintersmith also did some of the vocals, along with playing the keyboards. Usually I list the credits of the performers on an album or EP. But the list here is so extensive, and the credits for each artist are so immense, that I will forgo listing them. But let me say that the talent Wintersmith has put together for this EP are amazing artists and vocalists.

First up on the EP is the title track, A Walk In The Woods. It begins a bit strangely, with a bell and triangle types of sounds. Then immediately the song moves into a flute infused mild groove. It is a pretty cool song that indeed might make you think of a nice walk in the woods.

Ridgetop is a mild, bluesy type of tune. With the flugelhorn being the leading instrument in the song, it made me think a bit of Chuck Magione. But there is also some nice guitar reminiscent of Lee Ritenour.

I'm Always Dreaming is a laid back guitar and bass laden tune.

Jumping And Jiving begins slow with bluesy sax and then moves into a mild toe tapper with great vocals by Patricia Lee and Wintersmith.

The other vocal offering on the album is A Vida Que Eu Sonhei. It is a light groove that has beautiful vocals from Jessica Jeza Vauter.

The final song on the EP is a wonderful flute based piece called Amalfi.

A Walk In The Woods is a great way to showcase Terrence Wintersmith's talents, not only as a pianist and keyboardist but also as a bandleader. The talent that he assembled for the EP put forth excellent performances in each song.

A Walk In The Woods is available on CD Baby, amazon and at other music outlets.

You can find out more about Terrence Wintersmith at his Facebook music page at

https://www.facebook.com/terrencewintersmith/

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