"Paul Adams is one of those artists that has the ability to create such beauty in music that it moves you to your very core. For this his tenth album, Adams has enlisted the skills of long-time friend Dave Hoffman, simply one of the best trumpet players in the world, the ever so talented Bansuri player Pravin Godkhindi, and Australia’s maiden of Jazz playing piano on this release, the one incredibly talented Elizabeth Geyer.
The opening piece is breath-taking, as I suspected it would be and called Just Such Beauty. This is a real scene setter; the performance creates an adorable sense of ambience, where one can just literally drift in the waves of sonic bliss forever.
Giggles and Grooves is up next, this light-hearted reverie is a moment of fun and laughter in music, natural sounds, a child’s giggling and a tempo and feel that is the equivalent of running and playing with an energy so free and young. The subtleties of Hoffman’s trumpet and the addition of some very blissful vocals can also be heard here. Now get set for a treat dear reader, the build and progression of the title track Imaginings is upon us, the groove here is deep and almost sensual at times, the creation of wide open spaces within this album is sublime to behold, but there is also a jazz feel to this track that makes it undeniably brilliant.
We now come to the sumptuous and delightfully performed track called Panda Bears at Breakfast. The combination of styles east and west and the instrumentation used on this track makes it sublimely gentle and calming, but here is a composition that has an ambitious but superb percussive beat and a clever interplay between Adams subtle flutes and a slow flowing tempo. Now dear reader,
I know you always like to note my personal favourites, so here it is, this for me is outstanding and so very fulfilling musically, a track of near on eight minutes called Pastoral. If you have a desire to wander musically around wide open spaces of sound, this is the absolute perfect vehicle with which to do so. Ambient, spacious and almost meditative, this is simply incredible, then near of three quarters of the way in the tempo picks up and we’re treated to a symbiotic melding of musicians creating something real, something special, something inwardly vibrant and classy, but not pretentious. I find it hard at times to stand back from an album and be more objective, but why should I? Should I just not tell you how amazingly good this release is, should I just not elaborate to you that this release truly moves me and effects my emotions, well the one track that did all that and more was this one called.
For Two Lovers. Here is a composition that has been birthed from the mournful and longing heart, and as many words as I could summon will never pay this outstanding track the justice it deserves, this is truly magnificent in every way possible. The Mysteries of Mood, what a superb title for starters, but here we see a nice interplay to start with from Adams and Geyer, into a composition that builds with the gentleness of spring sunshine in April. Pravin’s eastern motif here is perfect, the pauses in the composition are wonderful to bathe in, by the time Hoffman joins the fray we are gifted one of the most achingly tender compositions filled with a yearning of mysterious mood ever!
The lighter calls from Adams flute joins an almost expansive arrangement from the team on the composition Clouds. One could easily imagine Paul Adams playing the flute on the top of a vast range of hills and the clouds dancing and changing formation to the power of his instrument. So we now come to the penultimate track off the album called Dawn. This track just emerges with a very slow mood and then just sits there for us to admire, in the same way a sunrise does. Dawn hovers with an intent to please, to allow you the listener to join with it, in its wholeness, listen carefully with head phones to enjoy the natural sounds of existence coming back to life, this dear reader is your soundtrack of a new day dawning.
Sadly I must say this is the last track off the album, I am going to feature many of them on several shows and playlists, I hope from these words dear constant reader you will too find what you need here as well, Paul Adams last gift for you is called Conch Shell by the Sea (Conch Shell by David Hoffman). This is a picturesque way to leave the album and a composition that sits on the beach of tranquility by your side, Adam’s and his fellow musicians on this track come together in a harmonious arrangement of true feeling and honesty to deliver this exquisite farewell piece.
IMAGININGS has to be one of the best albums I have heard in this genre for years, each time I listen to a Paul Adams album I wonder if it is even possible for him to get any better, but he does and with the style and structure and performance of a man who is truly connected to his art and his truth, if you do nothing else this year, make sure you add this album to your collection, it will enrich your life and open up your minds to more in music that you possibly ever imagine, without a shadow of a doubt I recommend this album."