In Blue in Bloomington, MN

Pianist
Andrew Armstrong
is best known as the frequent accompaniment to violinist
James Ehnes
. Here, he steps out with a debut album that is pleasingly original in conception, in contrast to the majority of debuts. The pieces have various kinds of extramusical content; the five movements of
Aaron Jay Kernis
'
Before Sleep and Dreams
take for their theme the moments before a child falls asleep, while
Armstrong
's own
She Fell for a Flyfisher
depicts the experience of fishing in some detail. Yet the album's title indicates how the pieces are linked; all have a bluesy tinge common to a wide range of American music. This is not restricted to the
Gershwin
masterpieces included, although those are distinctive; the
Three Preludes
receive an unusually energetic reading, and the
Rhapsody in Blue
(marking the exact 100th anniversary of its premiere) is heard in its comparatively rare piano arrangement. The blues lurk in the two works by African American composers
William Grant Still
and
Julia Perry
and even in
Kernis
' piece, which often has a popular tinge. It makes sense, and it causes the listener to hear something new.
Rubicon Classics
' church sound is not right for the music but does not distort it badly, and upon finishing with this, one wants to hear more from
, both in performance and in composition. ~ James Manheim