Glen Halls

What makes this solo piano recording so compelling is the artist’s comprehensive awareness of the sonority of the sounds he is making. Patterns that other pianists would use as a backdrop for their improvising here become much like the tambura’s insistent statement of pitch orientation. Chords that would be wallpaper in less sensitive hands become exquisite statements in and of themselves. Dissonances and their harmonic overtones hover in the air with the grace of a gravity-defying dancer. Glen Halls’ (no relation to this reviewer) melodic acuity is reminiscent of Keith Jarrett at his least self-indulgent. Full of lyricism, his solos are never cloying. Simply stated, astringently elaborated, they are models of "Let the spirit of the moment say what it needs to say.” Economy of statement is his "hallmark,” and the grandeur of his vision is rendered in bolder relief because of it. Make no mistake, Halls has chops to burn. But this CD is an exercise in musicality, not musical athletics. The only tune with an instrumental addition is Fleeting Thoughts, where he is joined by an eloquently restrained Phil Dwyer on soprano sax. The title piece is wholly notated, not improvised, yet it retains the evanescence of an in-the-moment statement. Halls’ CD is the product of an imagination deeply attuned to the sounds of the instrument through which he speaks.