Author: Paul Rosen

This album represents my attempt to bring some of my favorite tangos and musettes—popular song forms in the 1920’s and 30’s—into the present day by coloring them with modern arrangements and instrumentation. Many of the pieces I chose existed only on scratchy recordings from that era of the Victrola—my drummer and bassist gave them a strong, danceable beat. Two medleys are from well-known icons of the 1980’s, stylistically meshed to fit the overall mood. The album shows that great art never goes away, especially if it has a mad scientist to help revive it!

1. Flambé Montalbanaise—Viseur
2. The Last Waltz in Budapest—Kovac
3. Lauper Ear Off—Lauper/Hyman/Shear/Hazard
4. Sorciere—Dukas
5. Serenade (from Schwanengesang)—Schubert
6. Amelon Waltz—O’Connor
7. Gitanerias—Lacuona
8. Adios Nonino—Piazzolla
9. Retour de Hirondelles—Pagano
10. Bal de la Marine—Venturi
11. Por Una Cabesa—Gardel/La Pera
12. Swing Valse—Viseur
13. Valse in B Minor—Chopin
14. Tango a la Madge—Leonard/Steinberg/Kelly/Brown/Rans
15. Jeanette—Viseur
16. Un Pugno di Dollari—Morricone
17. Musette a’ Teresa—Daniels/Magraw
18. Solace—Joplin
19. Brise Napolitaine

Stridin’ Down Bourbon: A Tribute to James Booker

James Carroll Booker III was a huge influence on my piano playing—his ability to mix Classical, Jazz, Blues, and other approaches set him apart amongst New Orleans pianists. He was plagued by his share of demons and his output suffered as a result, but when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Bayou in August 2005, I knew this was my chance to give back. So I donated all proceeds from the sale of this album to the New Orleans Free Clinic. 

This is a collection of instrumental tunes I mostly composed during a trip to Europe. I would wander around Berlin or Munich, stop at a stressed cafe, and just start writing on notation paper the sonic images I imagined from the goings-on of the strange yet familiar world around me. Charlistan is a mix of sounds from my adopted home town of Charlottesville, Virginia, mixed with an off-kilter 5/8 time signature from Eastern Europe. Soweter is my attempt to summon the joy and ‘clap-ability’ of South African street music. And Black Angels of the Sky is my attempt to write a spaghetti western style fiddle tune…on electric guitar. The motto of the album, as on my journeys, is ‘You never know what’s coming around the corner.’

1. Charlistan
2. Ode to Bruce
3. Vesperings
4. Mad Roumanian
5. April Is…
6. Soweter
7. Flutterby
8. This is to Father You
9. Skatah
10. Musengs
11. Black Angels of the Sky
12. Between Whitney and the Pale Moonlight
13. War: The New Peace

It’s always been my belief that some of the best offerings in life come from one choosing to go down the ‘less traveled path’—so wonderfully conjured in Robert Frosts’s beautiful poem. I stopped by these snowy, wooded songs, bearing my accordion, glockenspiel, guitar, and other assorted oddities, and attempted to carve out a path for these beautiful gems by composers both familiar and well-hidden.

1. Rustic Serenade to the Virgin Mary—Berlioz
2. Now Tell Us, Genle Mary/Christmas Carol from Anjou—Franck
3. Christmas Chimes/The Christmas Tree-Gade
4. Knecht Ruprecht—Schumann
5. Happiness at Christmas—Mendelssohn
6. The Sussex Mummers’ Christmas Carol—Grainger
7. Noel/Swiss Noel—Daquin
8. The Shepherds at the Manger: In dull jubilee—Liszt
9. A Christmas Gift—Paine
10. A Rose Is Gently Blooming—Brahms
11. Children Playing Around the Christmas Tree/A Music Box Gift—Rebikov
12. Old Christmas Carol/Whence Comes this Rush of Wings—Franck