phenomeNEWS - This Month's Music Review

This Month's Music Review
by Greg Ozimek

It’s About The Rose
Karen Marie Garrett, Waterstreet Records & Publishing, www.kgpiano.com

Nearly an hour in length but all too brief; An uplifting spirit wisp’d in time, held in a suspension, that penetrates and lingers long after the last note has faded.

Or, as a young, gleeful child’s wisdom once put it, “Whoa! This is too impossibly cool!”

Of course, she was getting her first look through a telescope she had pointed at a cascading range of mountains and craters along the lit edge of the moon. Imagine her astonished, soul-filling experience, appreciative demeanor and peak experience glow and you have a glimpse at what Karen Garrett has given us in her original, emotional piano and piano/string/acoustic compositions which walk us around her thematic inspiration in It’s About The Rose.

“A rose has always been a special gift,” she explained. “A rose can symbolize love, compassion, nature, serenity and even spirituality. The rose in a vase on the table reminds me to ‘Be present in the moment,’ which is a philosophy of life that I believe in and inspires much of my music.”

Amen to that!

Karen’s musical roots are in classical piano performance. It’s About The Rose is her fourth CD and features her first deep explorations into different musical structures from those of the strict classical masters – Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart and Schubert – who provided her earliest inspirations. Her own enjoyment has been effused into this CD, which has been her recent labor of love.

“I receive my musical inspiration from many sources, but for the most part I simply try to remain open and receptive to what is in front of me, to be present in the moment. And regardless of what influences me to compose, I write to emotionally connect with the listener”

Karen’s secret is well known to you and the other readers of this column.

“Recently I read an article that said what I believe is true: ‘Music stirs the soul, captures the imagination and creates an emotional connection.”

It’s About The Rose is produced by Will Ackerman, the legendary guitarist and founder of Windham Hill Records. Ackerman has become known as a top producer of contemporary instrumental music having produced for George Winston, Liz Story, Phillip Aaberg, Alex de Grassi, Michael Hedges, Scott Cosu.

She dedicated her life to piano studies and practice, around the tender age of 5, after her piano teacher took her to hear a performance of Van Cliburn. Her teacher also introduced her to the passionate compositions of a modern classical composer, Frank Sanucci, who was a friend of her teacher.

Karen Garrett’s life did pass through a long turning point, a mile marker which life can pose, when her husband died in 1994.

“I was emotionally distraught and the best way I could find to deal with it was to play the piano. I took the heartache of loss and poured that emotion into my music. It made me feel I was doing something constructive and helped me deal with the pain. The music became my sanctuary.”

Karen moved into a “fairly isolated” small cottage on the dunes near Oysterville, Washington and placed her piano in the dining room with picture windows facing the ocean. “It was a very inspirational and spiritual space where I first began to compose my own music,” she recalled.

It’s About The Rose is a keeper and is already on my iPod – ready for spring-time drives and last minute vibrations from the outer world before the ever new world of sleep speeds in.
Way back... a friend used to tell everyone she could, her motto, which was, “To enjoy is to obey!” It’s About The Rose is pure enjoyment.

And now for something different: We’re nearing half a year since Thanksgiving Day. What are you thankful for? Send me an email at music@wwnet.net, Subject: Thanks, with your thoughts. No prizes, maybe not even a mention. I’ll see what I can do with them. I’m not going to use, re-use, reply or spam your email address, so no worries. At the top of the body text mention your first name and city/state.