andy m
Although Prelude to the Rain is my favourite piece on this album, it is a close run thing... Each piece is an excellent example of laid back jazz piano... An absolute joy to listen to!
Favorite track: Prelude to the Rain.
Majica Phillips
A lovely delicate dance on the piano keys. This music is lovely for relaxing, playing in my waiting room, or on a Sunday afternoon. What a treasure I have found.
Includes seven tracks not on Digital Album below nor in Bandcamp stream: five standards and a piece each by Bobby Hutcherson and Herbie Nichols. To see contents, click the album folder images above. Comes with folder including performer's notes, song information, and cover collage by Nina Mera.
The complete album is also available as a digital download from iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play and as physical CD at CDbaby from links in righthand column.
If the contents and options are (understandably) confusing, please contact John directly via the Contact link in the righthand column.
Includes unlimited streaming of Au Naturel - Solo Piano
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
$15USDor more
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Includes John's originals from Compact Disc above, plus ambient mix of "Prelude to the Rain" not on Compact Disc. Also includes pdf of liner notes. Does not include "cover" songs by other composers from Compact Disc.
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"The delicate sounds of John Gilmore entrance me from the first strains of his 'Prelude to the Rain.' Surprising harmonies, tradition, the influence of Billy Strayhon, all add up to piano brilliance. 'All the Things You Are,' one of my favorite compositions of the Great American Songbook, uses the altered harmonies favored by the great American pianists of today, and moved this listener to tears with its tender probing harmonies. All in all, a great album!"
— Mark Levine, twice Grammy-nominated pianist, composer, educator, author of The Jazz Piano Book, The Jazz Theory Book, and The Menu
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It’s extremely awkward that when someone searches Bandcamp for what happens to be my name, my mug and album appear above work by the geniuses Sun Ra and John Gilmore, the magnificent tenor saxophonist in Sun's Arkestra. Believe me, their places are far above mine, now likely in the stars they portrayed. That said …
All takes in this collection are complete and unedited live performances on one of my favorite pianos with myself as sole performer and audience. Tempting as it was to apply digital wizardry, what was played is what you hear, au naturel — no overdubs, effects, shifts, splices, or dices.
The collage by soulmate Nina graces this package with her vibrant sense of life, play, and mystery. To me, it conveys the mix of nature and artifice in the piano, a relatively recent and hi-tech addition to the ranks of acoustic instruments, given to conjuring orchestras and illusions of space and silence.
Once I was whining about isolation to an accomplished visitor. He observed that the great advantage of living here is the chance to develop without distraction or pressure to keep up with urban styles. I’ve been very grateful for his perspective and hope that the listener may hear a bit of this hermit’s voice in this mix of standards and originals.
— John Gilmore
Lucky to have gone to Indiana University before it had majors in jazz but did have stellar students and Jerry Coker on the
faculty while David Baker was teaching out of his house in Indianapolis. More fortune back in Chicago exploring with AACM pioneers. Now grateful to be on the northern California coast playing steady piano gigs and making soundscapes of this time and place....more
Deeply human jazz with an organic combination of acoustic and electronic instruments. Especially striking how the musicians, especially the leader, know how to wait, not the same as "leaving space." John Gilmore
After Eno, the composer and first album that drew me into ambient music and soundscapes. Very impressed with everything John does, to the extent that I'm creating soundscapes my own self. Stay tuned. John Gilmore
Very unlike my album, except for pianos (2). Profoundly moving on many levels. Phillip Glass jams with Cecil Taylor through Stockhausen's mixer in James Baldwin's parlor till a Sufi vocalist shows up. John Gilmore
Pop sensibility, vintage effects, and a sophisticated ear for tonal development make this jazz foray truly charming. Bandcamp Album of the Day Sep 1, 2017