Kelly Andrew – Rendevous

CD review by Tony Smith

Kelly Andrew’s 2016 album is but one milestone in a prolific career for this American composer and player of piano, keyboards and synthesiser.

The ten tracks, over just over 40 minutes, make uniformly pleasant listening.

His piano playing is of high quality and it would be good to know what brand and shape instrument he uses.

Except for the tunes ‘Serenade of the Night Sky’ and ‘Promise’, Kelly is joined by various support musicians who blend very smoothly into his arrangements.

These include Duke Levine (guitars and mandolin), Randy Chaevez (guitar), Tony Levin (bass), Bijoux Barbosa (bass), Charlie Bisharat (violin), Eugene Friesen (cello), Premik Russell Tubbs (saxophone and woodwinds), Jill Haley (English Horn and oboe), Steve Holley (drums), Christian Teele (drums and percussion), Jeff Haynes (percussion), Noah Wilding (vocals) and Gus Sebring (French horn).

Also, Kelly thanks co-producers Will Akerman and Tom Eaton for their inspiration and assistance.

The tracks were recorded at various studios in Vermont and beyond, but the outcome is uniformly good and Journey Music Entertainment and Dancing Flame publishing have every right to be proud of the product.

Some upbeat electric guitar leads into ‘Chasing Twilight’.

Violin is a feature of ‘Hand in hand’.

‘Awake in a Dream’ has some jazz style saxophone.

‘Looking Back’ is a slower track with gentle rhythms.

The remaining tunes are ‘Rendezvous’, ‘Painted Butterfly’, ‘Lonely Road’ and ‘Hope’.

This is very pleasant music and it is easy to understand why Kelly Andrew’s music is so valued by film and television producers.

As it is presented on this CD, the listener might wish for a little more light and shade in the pieces.

Still, this music is highly commercial and Kelly Andrew is clearly a perfectionist.

Aspiring young pianists would do well to try and emulate this skilled musician.