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Mainya Music Entertainment
by Kathy Parsons
Isadar's fourth solo piano album is a blend of smooth jazz and new age stylings, showing both his impressive technique and sensitivity to melody. Several of the eight selections are free-form and improvisational, revealing some of Liz Story's influence on his music. Some of Isadar's earlier recordings have very dark, moody sections, but this one stays fairly upbeat and optimistic without being ear candy. The music is complex enough to sink your teeth into, and yet is accessible enough to enjoy as a backdrop to a quiet dinner or an evening with a good book.
"Joyful Running" begins the "journey" with an exuberant and uplifting piece that reminds me a little of some of Spencer Brewer's bouncier compositions. "Fountain of Life" is a beautiful piece with a water-like flow that never stops in its 10 1/2 minutes. I listened to this CD several times without realizing that this song was that long. It flows and meanders so effortlessly that it seemed no longer than the other seven selections, most of which are between four and five minutes in length. Unstructured and free, this is one of my favorite tracks. I also really like the title track, which is even more abstract and unstructured. The tone is of searching and moving forward. "End of the Line" is my favorite on this album. Very introspective and contemplative, this seems to be a very personal piece. It is the most somber track, but one still senses hope despite the ending of something dear and important. Or maybe it's simply the end of "the journey" and the dread of returning to "real life" - I feel this way on the last day of my vacations! It is a wonderful and moving closing to an excellent album.
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- Solo Piano Publications
Mainya Music Entertainment
by Kathy Parsons
I have discovered a real wealth of great solo piano Christmas CDs this year! Isadar's "In Search For the Meaning of Christmas" definitely falls into this category! Thoughtful, introspective, and a bit moody, Isadar's arrangements are true to the carols (with some small melody changes in "Bring a Torch" and "Carol of the Bells" that bother me just a little) and still seem very personal. "Bring a Torch", "The Holly and the Ivy", and "I Saw Three Ships" are given a lighthearted, joyful treatment. "Star of Wonder (We Three Kings)", "What Child Is This?", "The Coventry Carol", and "Sing We Now of Christmas" are all minor, somber, reverent pieces, and all four are given loving arrangements that keep the dark, mysterious nature of the songs and reflect Isadar's own sensibilities. "Carol of the Bells" and Isadar's arrangement of "Greensleeves" (a homage to Liz Story's arrangement from the Windham Hill "A Winter's Solstice" series) are energetic without losing all abandon. "Silent Night" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" present us with a very cold, deep solitude - both feel like late night with moonlight reflecting off the snow. Both are moody, but very beautifully so. George Winston's "December" is one of my all-time favorite holiday albums, and I feel "In Search For the Meaning of Christmas" holds up exceptionally well next to it. This is an excellent collection of Christmas music, and I highly recommend it!
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- Solo Piano Publications
Mainya Music Entertainment
by Kathy Parsons
I love this CD! It constantly amazes me how many outstanding composer/pianists there are out there - especially in relation to the few who are highly commercially successful within this broad genre. I would say that "Active Imagination" definitely belongs near the top of the heap. Isadar's style is original, and his pianism is excellent. He lists his inspirations as Liz Story, Keith Jarrett, and Bill Evans, and I can hear traces of all three in his playing, but find his composing and playing styles to be uniquely his own. The first three tracks are lively and upbeat ("Active Imagination", "Throwing the Dice", and "Where the Wild Things Are") with an easy, jazzy, improvised feel. The meter changes are fascinating, and the bluesy beat on "Wild Things" is infectious. From there, the mood seems to gradually darken and become more introspective. "Waiting" is a beautiful, flowing mood piece full of questions and a lovely melody line. Isadar's cover of Liz Story's "Wedding Rain" is wonderful - this is a piece I often work on with my advanced students, and everything about Isadar's interpretation of the piece seems right without being a carbon-copy of Liz's recording. "Feu Follett (The 'Spook' Light)" has a nice, easy flow with a strong sense of mystery; it also has an unusual rhythm that lightens the mood and adds a bounce. "Uncertainty" is cooler and more aloof, but gorgeous in its flowing introspection - that it ends with a major chord, feels like the soul-searching has had positive results. "Love Chaconne" is the closing track, and is the longest and most abstract piece on the CD. The left hand plays a repeated pattern while the right hand goes off in several different directions (one of the primary characteristics of a "chaconne"). Beautiful in its simplicity, this is the only track that seems to contain an element of pain and sorrow, but never dissolves into melodrama. "Active Imagination" is excellent from start to finish and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes solo piano with substance and complexity, but is still accessible, melodic, and rhythmic. Bravo amundo!
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- Solo Piano Publications
Discography
Forthcoming:
- Red - solo piano (Fall 2008)
Currently in worldwide digital stores (i.e. iTunes):
- LiFe v.2.0 - vocal (2007)
- Scratching The Surface - piano and vocal sampler (2006)
- Private Property - vocal (2006)
- Lessons In Love - vocal (2005)
- The Purple Heart - improvisational solo piano (2003)
- The Journey - solo piano (2000)
- In Search For The Meaning Of Christmas - solo piano (1999)
- Active Imagination - solo piano (1999)
- Cycles - vocal (1998)
- Dream Of The Dead - vocal (1997)
- Elevations (electronic soundscapes) - instrumental (1994)
- Near The Edge Of Light - solo piano (1990)
*****MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/isadar1
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Bio
Fabian I. Thibodeaux (professionally known by his middle name, Isadar) has been involved with music in one way or another all of his life. He began playing the piano 'by-ear' at a very early age inspired by the classical music his father listened to and his brother performed. He began studying the piano and theory at the age of five. By the time Isadar was 10 years old, he had already won numerous awards in local talent shows and Superior ratings at music festivals, including an award for his piano performance of Bach's "Musette (from the Anna Magdalena notebook)" at the age of 8.
Studying piano on and off throughout grade school, he shifted his focus for a period of time during junior high and began studying the flute and then gradually moved on to include the oboe, which began a cycle of new sound and timbre cravings leading to electronic synthesizers. Before graduating, Isadar had gained numerous instrumental awards in competitions. Bach's "Badinerie - from the orchestral suite no. 2 in B minor" was his signature flute performance piece - earning him Superior ratings at local and state music festivals at the age of 13.
Isadar fully regained his interest in the piano at the age of 17 and from then on, he began writing and composing, building his catalog to what today contains over 400 musical compositions, some of these works exclusively for the piano.
Once a music student at the University of Louisiana, he began to record his original compositions in a professional multitrack recording studio - financed entirely by working part-time jobs after school. These early recording efforts were heavily influenced by such British recording artists as Kate Bush, Thomas Dolby, and Peter Gabriel. In particular, his first vocal album “Dream Of The Dead” was directly influenced by Bush's 1982 pinnacle masterpiece: "The Dreaming."
Isadar attended a performance by then RCA/Novus/Windham Hill pianist Liz Story. He was so inspired by her talent, style, technique and composition that while working on "Dream of the Dead" he decided to also try composing solos for the piano and recorded these efforts. These recordings ended up being his debut album, "Near the Edge of Light" (1990) in the Windham Hill spirit. A modest performance tour was launched in his home state of Louisiana to promote the release. The album was locally well-received and gained critical acclaim. It was nominated as the year's best instrumental jazz recording in a contest sponsored by The Times of Acadiana and The Acadiana Music and Entertainment Association, and hosted by famed Lafayette venue, Grant Street Dancehall.
In early 1993 Isadar relocated to New York City to further pursue his music and recording career. Once settled, he began final mixing and mastering of "Dream of the Dead" (1997) with Bob Musso (chief engineer and business partner of acclaimed producer Bill Laswell) at Sony Music Studios in New York.
In 1998, Isadar refocused his attention to solo piano and recorded two albums back-to-back in the same day's session: "Active Imagination" and "In Search For The Meaning Of Christmas" both gaining critical acclaim in 1999 within the small U.S. domestic "new-age" industry. Both albums charted in New Age Voice, the leading new-age/world music authority at the time.
In 2000, Isadar released yet another piano album, "The Journey" and began creating mechanical reproductions of all his solo piano recordings for software compatibility with modern day player-pianos: the Disklavier (by Yamaha) and The PianoDisc systems. 2000 also saw the laborious task of transcribing to sheet music his debut album "Near the Edge of Light." (other sheet music collections are forthcoming).
Isadar’s latest piano album, "The Purple Heart," contains over 50 minutes of live uninterrupted improvisational solo piano composition and performance, dedicated to the lives lost during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Isadar has also been involved in producing sound recordings of Antique Music Boxes and has recently released a box set of rare compositions (some by early American composers and that which have never been recorded previously)
(September 2007)
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