Music
Press
Russel Walders new cd RISE is a monumental achievement. In this one cd he virtually creates a new genre. Former Windham Hill Grammy nominee, Walder, has created music that combines World, Jazz and Ambient all layered and textured together. The feeling that permeates this recording is a sense of a higher realm, something transcendent, something we all know but can’t quite touch. Recorded in 2006, Walder has composed, produced, arranged, mixed and performed all the instruments in his state of the art studio in Auckland, New Zealand. RISE brings the listener to the edge of feeling. Intense, soaring and deeply personal, RISE is the kind of cd that will stay on your player on constant repeat. Russel Walder live takes the music of RISE to yet a higher-level altogether. An oboe virtuoso, the oboe literally burst into flames the night I saw him. Wave after wave of blistering runs, followed by deeply lyrical moments of beauty that left the packed house in tears.
A Gem!
- New Music Times
Discography
Discography
Solo Recordings
Rise (2006)
The Breathing of the World (2005)
Pure Joy (2002)
Duets
Guitarra Celtica with Andrew White (1999)
Elements with Ira Stein 1982
Trios
Past Light with William Ackerman & Ira Stein (1983)
With the Walder /Stein duo
Elements (1982)
Transit (1986)
Under the Eye (1992)
Symphonic Projects and Soundtracks
Kakadu National; Park (2007) Discovery Channel
Fiordland National Park (2007) Discovery Channel
Standing on the Shoulders of the many (2006)
Reluctant Revolutionary (2005)
Ice Bow New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (1999) (from the film, The Lunatics Ball)
Collaborations
History of my Heart with Suzanne Ciani (1989)
Places in Time 1992) with Michael Gettel
Harare to Kisangani (1993 ) with Balafon
Guitarra Celtica with Andrew White (1999)
Joan of Arc (1999) with Radha Sahar ,
And as a key player on many other projects.
With Female Vocalists
One Caitlin Smith 2002
Compilations
Windham Hill Sampler (1986 -Russel Walder)
Windham Hill: First Ten years 1990
Sonia Gaia Collection One (1990)
Narada Collection One (1990 ) Russel Walder
Winters Solstice ll (1990) Russel Walder
Sanctuary (1996) Russel Walder )
Meditation (2001 - Russel Walder)
Dreamscape (2000) Russel Walder
Freedom To Love (2002) Russel Walder
Comfort Music 1 (2004) - Russel Walder
Photos
Bio
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Master of the Oboe, Russel Walder has gained international distinction for his musicianship and profound interpretation of improvised musical forms. Walder's new CD RISE is epic and ambitious, RISE is a journey through the stages of the SOUL RISING. Russel Walder, a master improviser and one of the worlds leading contemporary oboists, has created a masterpiece of style, sonic invention and depth.
Walder's playing is beautiful and haunting, passionate, soulful and sublime. The audience is transported to a deeply moving mystical world of inner reflection. "When I walk on stage, I am empty. I start from nothing and stay empty the whole time. No thoughts, no images, no goals. The music is it's own force. I stay out of the way and allow it to be".
RISE presents a Tour de Force of Walders unique compositional style. Walder seamlessly integrates his soaring virtuosic style over haunting layers of strings, sultry eastern rhythms and harmonies, ambient soundtracks and exotic drums and percussion.
For Walder, playing is more about summoning an inner state of being than following traditional musical construction. He says,"By listening to the silence, everything can be known".
Russel Walder has combined an unlikely mixture of musical interests to become a jazz musician who is both highly acclaimed and popular. He has created a musical signature that's all his own.
It all began began with a boyhood epiphany. One morning in 1970 he heard a man from a musical instrument company playing every instrument, when he heard the oboe, it was as if time stopped. The sound penetrated his being and from that moment on, he knew what he would do for the rest of his life
Before long, he was winning competitions and appearing as a soloist in orchestras. By the time he was a student at California Institute of the Arts, he had to drop out as his career had become so successful.
Walder leaned away from the riff-oriented music that dominated mainstream jazz at the time; he was not interested in the flashy yet meaningless displays of instrumental virtuosity that many jazz players engaged in. He began to develop his own sound, one which reviewers would call "intense," "atmospheric," and "emotional." He came to value honesty in playing rather than technical skill.
By the time he was 19 he was signed to the Windham Hill label from California and went on to record for Narada and Real Music.
Having performed extensively through-out Europe and North America including Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, The Greek Theatre in Berkley California, and in Major festivals such as WOMAD, the EXPO of Spain, The Miller Jazz festival, and extensive live TV appearances, Grammy nominee and multi platinum selling artist, WALDERS performances have enjoyed rapturous applause and success throughout the world.
RISE is the cornerstone of Walders work. Russel Walder's talent is in full force
here as he has composed, performed, recorded, engineered, and played all the instruments on RISE. RISE is also the first release on his newly formed record label, NOMAD SOUL RECORDS
which began in 2006.
Currently he is composing soundtracks for films and documentaries including the Discovery Channel and the award winning feature film , 'The Lunatics Ball', which won the Golden Cup for best feature in China
in this successful collaboration with Peter Scholes.
From his early days with Windham Hill through his years touring, to the twists and turns of his current incarnation as a solo artist recording under the strength of his own label. Russel's restless spirit never stops searching for new ways to express the inexpressible and to offer listeners another ticket to an inner state of being.
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