BJ on pedal steel, Roger Beaujolais on vibraphone and Simon Thorpe on double bass. Exploring a new genre For guys already so well established in the music world the LushLife project is a blast of pure youthful energy and enthusiasm combined with great musicianship, artistry and experience. LushLife was born with a fascination and curiosity to bring pedal steel and vibes together for the very first time. This collaboration of true exploration took them into territory encompassing jazz, chamber music and contemporary compositions, influenced by a century rather than a decade. Bringing Simon into the mix was the perfect melt. Perfect artistry, idiosyncratic personalities, a wry humour and parallel styles unexpectedly converge and intertwine. This feel good music is strangely familiar, captivating and cool as if born in the confines of established music architecture, but reinvented... and so it’s become known as ‘Loft Jazz’, a genre a step ahead. Innovating in a changing recording world The album was widely revered as a contemporary sonic masterpiece. From the outset LushLife have endeavoured to innovate, from inspired recording and production techniques.

DOWNLOAD includes a digital (PDF) book of liner notes.

REVIEW BY KEITH PURTELL If not a masterpiece, “Transparent Music” is at least very close. This recording features BJ Cole's extraordinary facility on the steel guitar. In his hands, the instrument moves through an amazing spectrum of expression: gently calling, murmuring, whispering, weeping, then soaring and singing.

Song selection on “Transparent Music” is classical (or neoclassical, if you prefer), and Cole manages to generate the scope of classical music, the grand sweep and the idea that a beautiful song is a force of nature; a manifestation of the universe. Most compelling are his interpretations of Ravel and Debussy, rendered with real vision and feeling with an instrument typically thought of as limited to Country & Western. Debussy's already glorious “Claire De Lune” hasn't sounded this sensitive and atmospheric since Isao Tomita's interpretation. Ravel's “Pavane Pour Une Enfante Defunte” (Pavane for a Dead Princess) is here rendered gracefully heartbreaking, and Cole's instrument lets out a sad cry that seems to remember every sweet gesture of the lost child.

Accompanying instrumentation is much influenced by musical masters Harold Budd and Brian Eno; appropriate guidance for anyone seeking to create a world of tenderness and hazy sunlight. Music with many of these qualities is often categorized as “new age,” just one of several sections in record stores where you may find the CD. I've seen it stocked as “instrumental,” “meditative,” “classical” and so on. “Transparent Music” also features sensitive treatment of two Erik Satie pieces, and several original compositions by Cole and keyboardist Guy Jackson.

The use of a steel guitar in classical music isn't without a sort of sonic precedent. Music played on a violin has a similar sound; due in part to the fact that notes gradually emerge when the strings are rubbed with a bow. It's true that the steel guitar is plucked like an ordinary guitar, but it's common practice among steel guitarists to vary the volume so the sound seems to emerge into perception. Compare this, for example, to a piano where strings are struck with small hammers to induce a vibration. The violin has a more gentle approach; a quality of being sensuous and natural in the sense that the human voice is an emerging or non-percussive instrument. The only other person to do something like this is probably Junior Brown, and in his case he actually invented a hybrid slide guitar/steel guitar called a “guit-steel.”

Cole's chromatic palette is like that of painter Maxfield Parrish; it conjures up a vivid world bathed in a pearlescent, sunset glow. He exploits this quality of the steel guitar to great effect, and a few other qualities of the instrument and the recording studio we did not know existed. In that sense, “Transparent Music” is a ground-breaking recording; it not only does a beautiful job of re-interpreting well-known music and showcasing several new compositions, but it presents a new musical sound; a unique approach introduced by a gifted artist.

https://keithpurtell.com/bj-cole.php

This album was my follow up to Transparent Music which I recorded back in 1989. With my good friend and excellent musician / producer Guy Jackson we began work on this album in 2010, only 21 years in between it and Transparent Music 1! The basic tracks for ‘Sublime 1’, ‘Sublime 2’ and ‘Country Vibe’ were all recorded on the first day Guy and I started working on this album; 2nd September 2010. A prolific day’s work considering it was all improvised on the spot. ‘First Resolve’ and ‘Free Air’ were recorded at Davy Spillane’s Burrenstone Studio in Ireland. Davy expressed an interest in recording with us and told us he was a huge fan of our first ‘Transparent Music’ CD. After work on our collaboration foundered, I became frustrated that the great music we had made might never see the light of day. Therefore we are particularly pleased that two tracks from our sessions with Davy have found their way on to this record. The original recording of ‘Monolith’ was somewhat overlong. With a lot of judicious editing, we were left with a track that was monolithically dense from beginning to end; hence the title. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my dear friend Arve Henriksen, who fulfilled his promise of adding trumpet to one of my recordings. I can’t think of a more suitable framework for his improvisations or a more able improviser. Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois’ ambient music series largely inspired our first ‘Transparent Music’ project. It is then not surprising that their pioneering use of the Omnichord should inspire us to find a use for it in our music. The otherworldly qualities of the Omnichord add a weird twist to the otherwise classic countriness of ‘Country Vibe’, the pop superficialness of ‘Star Day’, and helps to add the furtive to ‘Furtive Bliss’. ‘The Calm’ is one of three improvisations we recorded with the great slide guitarist Michael Messer. A meditation for slide & steel, earthy & ethereal. All recorded in one take with nothing added. Our heartfelt thanks must also go to ALL the musicians that have contributed to this project. To Mo Foster for making ‘Sublime 2 The Great Bear’ his own with his eloquent fretless bass play- ing; to Jon Baker, Eddy Sayer and Al Cherry for their furtive and sometimes subliminal contributions to ‘Furtive Bliss’, and to Roy Dodds who’s drums would be missed if they weren’t there on ‘Country Vibe’ and ‘Star Day’. And lastly, and certainly not least, my old mate Bobby Valentino who’s twin fiddles add the crowning touch of authenticity to ‘Country Vibe’.

The Download from this site includes an exclusive PDF book of liner notes.