Journey with the Sun
Each year during the winter and summer solstices, Paul Winter plays dawn concerts at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He gathers a crew of international players to join his core consort members, cellist Eugene Friesen and keyboardist Paul Halley, to create a global chamber music.Journey with the Sundraws on compositions that have emerged from the last two years' performances. Although Paul Winter is clearly the leader here, the album focuses on Turkish-Armenian singer and percussionist Arto Tuncboyaciyan, who has become a dominating force in the solstice shows in recent years. He sings in a hybrid language of vocables, not unlike Lisa Gerrard or Azam Ali of Vas. An immensely soulful singer, he draws on the same Armenian well of melancholy that also sustains Armenian doudouk master Djivan Gasparyan.Journey with the Sunopens with "Caravan of Dawn," with Tuncboyaciyan's faux call to prayer sending the group into a whirling dervish of Middle Eastern percussion. Paul Winter gives what may be his most wailing solo in years as he merges into a storm of zurnas and the digital santoor of Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. Among the many guests on the album, Hart is joined by Irish singer Niamh Parsons, Romanian pan-pipe player Damian Draghici, and Irish uilleann piper Davy Spillane. From the exuberant Balkan influences "Mountain Wedding" to the more serene spaces of "Cave of Winds" and "Pas de Deux,"Journey with the Sunextends Winter's global chamber music once again.--John Diliberto