SACD of the Month - "Jim Beard: Revolutions"

SACD of the Month
Jim Beard: "Revolutions" (Intuition) 2009

Almost two decades after his debut solo album, "Song of the Sun," for Creed Taylor's CTI label, composer wiz and pianist/keyboardist Jim Beard delivers another masterpiece: "Revolutions," recorded "live in the studio" in The Netherlands with Vince Mendoza conducting the fantastic Metropole Orchestra. And it's available as an Hybrid Stereo + Surround Super Audio CD, playable on all CD and SACD players.

The 10 tracks were selected from Beard's first four solo albums. And four of them from the groundbreaking "Song of the Sun": "Diana," "Holodeck Waltz," "Parsley Trees" and "Crossing Toll Bridge." Mendoza did most of the orchestrations, but Matt Harris, Gordon Goodwin and Beard himself also contributed with impressive charts.

Curiously, this time Jim - known by many as "the Joe Zawinul of the 21st century" - focused on the acoustic piano, using Rhodes and electronic keyboards only in a couple of songs. "Revolutions" also feature such great players as Bob Malach, Jon Herington, Ruud Breuls, Paul van der Feen, Bill Evans, Bart van Lier, Leo Jansen, Marcel Serierse, Aram Kersbergen, Frans van Geest, Martijn Vink and Peter Tiehuis.

The top-class cover design, in digipack format, is signed by my dear friend Knut Schötteldreier, who gave me the honor to collaborate with me in several projects I compiled and produced for the Verve label in recent years. A fascinating packaging for a fascinating album.

As guitarist Jon Herington (who played in most of Beard's projects, including "Song of the Sun" and "Chroma") points out on his liner notes: "Jim has accumulated a good list of quiet accolades from reputable reviewers, but my sense is that he has yet to be discovered to the degree that his talent both warrants and will certainly support. His work belongs in the 'required listening' category." In other words: Jim is an underrated genius. Period.