John Boswell

Among the many New Age pianists who rediscovered the insights of Erik Satie, a Seattle musician, John Boswell - raised in California and a graduate of U.C.L.A. - had the advantage of applying them to the world of musical theater. On Broadway, in fact, he worked on several productions (as musical director) and wrote the music for a couple of minor musicals.

The intimate style of The Painter, one of the many solo piano albums of the era, distinguished itself from the competition from the very overture Mafu, thanks to a faster tempo and a more vigorous drive. Desolate compositions such as the martial Four A.M. and the funereal Quilt grafted as much emotion as possible onto those dynamic and robust sonorities. Less spectacular but more penetrating was the conversational and lyrical style of London and Back To York, a way of telling stories by letting the fingers glide across the keyboard.
The final aspect of Boswell’s music was that linked to domestic and rural life: the dreamy rhapsody of James And The Giant Peach, the exuberant fugue of Path, the heroic theme of Frontiers. Only Pleiades resorted to the fashionable impressionism of the time. Far from attempting any harmonic adventure, proposing revolutions in the canon of consonance, or indulging in technical acrobatics, Boswell adhered to the new age manual: simple, communicative, relaxing music.

With saxophone and percussion, Kindred Spirits attempted to enliven his rather heavy romances. Lively, dreamy, and exotic rhapsodies such as Waterfall and Moscow are merely the prelude to the romantic and sensual landscape of Night At The Beach. Exoticism counterbalances the classicism of the new solo piano pieces, from the headlong fugue of Rikki's Dream to the nocturnal ballad of Cornwall Bridge. The luminous air of the title track, which piano and saxophone exchange back and forth with continual variations, and the Christmas music-box charm of Climbing carry the best of Boswell’s melodicism into a very intimate sphere. This variant of more melancholic urban jazz was the result of his move to Manhattan.

With the collection of Christmas pieces Festival Of The Heart began his partnership with Brian Keane, author of lush orchestrations. Boswell returned the favor by playing on his Common Planet.

Keane’s hand is evident on Count Me In, which also features a host of seasoned performers (including saxophonist Dave Mann, cellist David Darling, and Keane himself on guitar). On Reunion, the strongest theme on the album, the aching saxophone solo actually steals the spotlight from the piano. While the catchiest melody is probably the Celtic-tinged Do It As A Friend, the prize for most airy theme perhaps goes to the jazzy The Promise Of Rain. The solo piano pieces (Aletha and Fourteenth Street), in a minor key, serve as moments of introspection amid the cocktail-lounge music of One Night In Paris and the electronic dreamscape of Underwater Scene. The blend of folk and jazz reveals his musical roots but also enhances one of the more “purist” programs of new age, detached from both world music and classical music.

Boswell also plays and sings in the vocal trio Wiseguy. In the 1990s he composed music for television programs as well, continually commuting between New York (his new residence) and Los Angeles.

Trust (Hearts Of Space, 1998) and Love (Hearts Of Space, 1999) are collections of pop songs performed at the piano. At best, they boast suave melodies (Take My Hand and Glimpse Of Time for solo piano, as well as the lengthy I'll Carry You Through for chamber ensemble, on the former; I'll Meet You There on the latter, which adds a singer on a few songs). At worst, they recycle the most obnoxious cliches of pop muzak.