Beauty of Song

I get lost in Leo's music. Not in the way a listener forgets the music and starts thinking about a long-ago love, but lost into the music. It's like finding oneself in a place populated by exquisite melodies and harmonies and rhythms timed with one’s heartbeat.

Some selections are tone poems, an evocation of mood. Others bring specific worlds to life with such faithfulness it amazes me. I feel that, even if I didn't know the particular title of one of the pieces, I would come up with the same title myself, that's how much inner imagery these songs create.

The album is permeated with a positive spirit and attitude. It presents life’s dichotomies, but helps the listener choose to concentrate on the sweet, not the bitter. It has a mature sound because it does not merely ignore the bitter or pretend it doesn’t exist.

It’s hard to classify to which genre this music belongs. Then I thought, why try to classify at all? It has elements of jazz, certainly, and classical and New Age, light touches of honky-tonk and a gentle bluesy spirit. It’s like the best of ‘pop’ too, with pop standing for ‘popular’. I think this CD will be thoroughly enjoyed by listeners of all sorts!

Reactions to individual songs:

• Monica's Song is heartbreakingly lovely. It manages to sound glad and sad simultaneously - just like many love affairs are, just like life itself can sometimes be. The cello part stands out for its almost crushing beauty, by itself and in its interplay with the piano.
• Wishing I Were There: This is the most interesting song on the CD, I think, with its conversation between saxophone and piano. The sax here conveys yearning that manages not to slip into maudlin. It’s a yearning that says “I will be there, just... not quite yet,” to the more plaintive piano.
• The Best Is Yet To Come: I spent some time yesterday with my daughter and her-husband, still newlyweds. Hearing this song today amazed me. Was Leo a fly on the wall? This song captured perfectly the joyous dance of two people in love who have vowed their love will last.
• Summertime Highway: Listening to this makes me want to go on a road trip! It re-created that jaunty, light-hearted feeling of setting out on an adventure, bye-bye extra baggage. Summertime Highway is a fun little honkey-tonk song of The Open Road!
• Across The Years: When I think of sharing daily life with the one I love, I think of Sunday afternoons and evenings. This song sounds like one long Sunday, extended indefinitely in both directions. What a deeply-expressive cello part Leo Brodie has created here.
• Alamitos Bay : All light jazz and warmth and smooth water.

-- Sandra Anderson, November 20, 2011

It makes me wish I was a filmmaker. Your melodies and moods are so perfect as a musical score to a feature film.

But I selfishly will also just play them all the time at home, to set a wonderful vibe.

-- Lisa Craze, November 22, 2011

This CD is full of subtle surprises and technical precision. Brodie’s own excellent piano work is the core of this collection and he is joined by a handful of first-rate Seattle musicians. His partners in time and space include award-winning guitarist James Howard, jazz great Jon Hamar on upright bass, Garey Williams on drums, Gary Pinkney on percussion, Jay Thomas on alto sax, Jay Kenney on Hammond organ, Nathaniel Paul Schleimer on flute and Kevin Krentz on cello.

This collection will play well for a long time as a sound track for life; as a backdrop to dinner with friends, during the morning drive to work or to decompress after a wacky day.

-- Leslie vanWinkle, Changing Winds/Critical Mass CD
Easywriterproductions.com - November 25, 2011