Keola Beamer Kolonahe: From The Gentle Wind CD

All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

An album of high-quality ki hoalu from Keola Beamer, one of a small group of slack-key players since the '70s to consistently stay at the top of the genre. Taking his love for nature as inspiration, Kolonahe focuses on the wind. Most of the songs present on the album deal in some way or another with the wind, either directly or in musical reference. The fare is standard in comparison to Beamer's other albums, but that isn't to say that it's sub-par. The music is performed with his usual passion and virtuosity, and to say that it is standard is to group it among a number of other excellent albums. The songs themselves range from new compositions to old standards from Beamer's repertoire to songs from the monarchy era of Lili'uokalani and Kapi'olani. The mood is always relaxed and sentimental, added to by the inclusion of members of the Modern Mandolin Quartet and the San Francisco Nahenahe Strings on a few songs. The inclusion of George Winston (the label founder and a friend of Beamer, aside from his status as a new age virtuoso) is an addition to the album, but perhaps not the addition one might wish for. The piano accompaniment only works with slack key at times, bringing darker chords to the mix that don't particularly belong. For a slack-key album, there are a number of albums to choose from of high quality, this being among them. For a Keola Beamer album, one might do well to listen to Wooden Boat or Mauna Kea first, then move on to this one afterward. ~ Adam Greenberg

"Eve sings and composes with such feeling and soul for all of life." - George Winston"An urban country sound that suits her voice well .. well-crafted songwriting .. the music speaks for itself." - Royal Jam USAEve Rantzer, a singer, pianist and guitarist, writes songs about - and from - the grit and inspiration within us. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Eve's composing and vocal styles are all her own, born of her urban background of jazz, rhythm & blues, gospel, Celtic and Klezmer music and rock'n'roll. Eve has released her first CD of original songs, "Double Indemnity." It can be heard on WXPN-FM Philadelphia and other independent U.S. stations. She's just finished a musical score for a university film department.For more information, contact: info@rantmuse.com or www.rantmuse.com.

Includes liner notes by Jay W. Junker and George Winston.

Personnel includes: Keola Beamer, George Winston.

Dirty Linen (12/99-1/00, p.75) - "...contemporary and upfront...[the album] has more sparkle and is less mellow. Still, the atmosphere remains within the 'gentle wind' category..."