wowhd.co.uk

Canadian pianist and keyboard player Andy Milne has been based in the US since the early 90s, performing with Steve Coleman's groups and with Cassandra Wilson, then leading his own quintet Dapp Theory, a band which combines jazz grooves with funk and hip-hop. Dreams and False Alarms, his first solo piano record, contains deeply considered re-workings of long-remembered pop/rock/folk/reggae classics (and three originals), reaffirming and expanding his creative process as a jazz improviser. The social and artistic idealism which Milne brings to his work has influenced both his choice of music and it's interpretation. "For me, I have to discover how I'm going to assume my own temporary ownership of a song before I can determine my approach. So in the case of these songs, I played them a bunch of different ways for a while, until a path revealed itself... Deciding what songs to record wasn't easy, but essentially I looked for material rich with meaningful, strong melodic content and just enough room for some personal harmonic development. What draws me to this music? I think it's the combined artistry of the poetry, songwriting and performance of their creators. Artists like Bruce Cockburn, Bob Marley, and Joni Mitchell use their songs to speak about important things that need to be heard in this world, yesterday and today. I guess I'm drawn to them for their courage and ideology." In terms of style, Andy cites a long list of keyboard heroes and mentors, from Tatum, Monk, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Nichols, Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock to Muhal Richard Abrams, Mulgrew Miller, Geri Allen, Kenny Werner and Brad Mehldau, not forgetting Glenn Gould or Stevie Wonder. 24 bit/88.2kHz recording mixed to stereo and 5.0.