Shades of Green: Celebration of Sacred Trees

Papadakos - Shades of Green: Celebration of Sacred Trees

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CD Details

Artist: Papadakos
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2000-09-26
Music Label: Pro Organo
Soundtracks:

Come, O Great Spirit - Dorothy Papadakos
The Sacred Tree - Dennis Yerry/Dorothy Papadakos
Jesus Christ The Apple Tree - Elizabeth Henreckson-Farnum/Dorothy Papadakos
Cedars Of Lebanon - Steve Gorn/Dorothy Papadakos
Banyan At Bodh - Gaya - Pandit Ramesh Mishra/Samir Chatterjee/Dorothy Papadakos
Carnauba - Raimundo Penaforte/John LaBarbera/Dorothy Papadakos
Willow Weep For Me - Theresa Thomason/Alex Norris/Vashon Johnson/Nate Smith/Dorothy Papadakos
Shepherd Boy At Cotopaxi - Dorothy Papadakos
Lucis Creator - Gentlemen Of The Cathedral Choir Of St. John The Divine/Johnson Flucker/Dorothy Papadakos

Music reviews of Shades of Green: Celebration of Sacred Trees

Music Review: It's no contest. Dorothy has the biggest set of pipes. :-)
Rating: 5 Stars

The pipes are not those of Ms. Papadakos, but of the Aeolian-Skinner organ at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where Ms. Papadakos has been Cathedral organist for a decade or so, and under whose stewardship this organ has been restored to its former glory.

The album - Ms. Papadakos' best to date, as far as I'm concerned - has a "green" theme (as well it might, given her close association to Paul Winter and his Consort over the years). But it's hardly "for tree-huggers only" and it represents her own novel musical thoughts on what we tend to call "world music." The common thread is that of trees around the world, and her world music collaborators on this album could hardly be topped. Most of the collaborations involve Dorothy at the Aeolian-Skinner console, but two of them have her at the piano keyboard instead, and one of these is a heart-stopping trip down memory lane.

High marks go to Dennis Yerry, native American flutist, in a haunting duet with Dorothy in "The Sacred Tree," Steve Gorn playing clarinet with a breathy mid-Eastern style in "Cedars of Lebanon," Pandit Ramesh Mishra on sarangi (an Indian cello-like instrument) performing - with Dorothy - a raga originally created by the great Ravi Shankar. Elizabeth Henreckson-Farnum sings a beautiful version of "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree," set to words of an anonymous poet by Elizabeth Posten; a beautiful melody indeed.

Dorothy has as well a few solo tracks of her own. The opening improvisation - "Come, O Great Spirit" - is, all by itself, worth the price of admission for all pipe organ aficianados. In this piece, the mountain winds are her collaborators.

I'm saving the heart-stopping best until last. The late, great Billie Holiday had many "signature" tunes for which she is justly remembered and will never be forgotten. One of my favorites has always been "Willow Weep For Me," both by Lady Day and by June Christie, who had been Stan Kenton's vocalist and had put her own style on the piece. On this album, Theresa Thomason - justly famous for her own gospel performances at the Cathedral and with the Paul Winter Consort - sheds her gospel style and gives us a jazz blues performance that can only be described as a ringer for Lady Day's incomparable version. Listen yourself, and you'll appreciate how one's heart can be stopped by this rendition. Truy a trip down memory lane. Dorothy's jazz piano, along with Alex Norris on trumpet, Vashon Johnson on bass and Nate Smith on drums, complement Theresa perfectly; the style and the sound of the era are captured with uncanny accuracy.

If it weren't for those Aeolian-Skinner pipes, my vote for "best set of pipes" would surely have gone to Ms. Thomason. We'll save THAT vote for a different Ms. Thomason, on a different album, singing in her more well-known gospel music style. But I do have to say that she does have the sound and the feel of Lady Day nailed here.

Bob Zeidler

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