SOLO MARIMBA IMPROVISATIONS
Volume 1
Payton MacDonald
Available Online at Your Favorite Download Site.
Percussionist/Composer, Payton MacDonald offers this entirely improvised acoustic marimba collection – no electronics, overdubbing, looping or editing. Three Bach chorales serve as source materials for the improvisations. MacDonald incorporates a variety of home–made mallets and his hands to broaden the timbral and expressive palette of the marimba, while sometimes also rearranging the bars. These improvs were recorded at the Oktaven Studios, Yonkers, NY.
| TRACKS | |
| 1 | Floobs |
| 2 | Wumbus |
| 3 | Humpf |
| 4 | Was Bist Du Doch, O Seele, So Betrubet |
| 5 | Glikker |
| 6 | Quandary |
| 7 | Itch-a-Pods |
| 8 | Wer Weiss, Wie Nahe Mir Mein Ende |
| 9 | Sneedle |
| 10 | Nutches |
| 11 | Ach Wie Fluchtig, Ach Wie Nichtig |
REVIEWS
Solo Marimba Improvisations, Volume 1
Payton MacDonald
Equilibrium®
Perhaps best known for his "Super Marimba" performances, Payton Mac- Donald's newest release provides listeners with 55 minutes of marimba improvisation. Three of the 11 tracks are based on source material from Bach, with the remaining eight coming from MacDonald.
The performances utilize the full range of the instrument in conventional and unconventional ways. MacDonald uses marimba mallets, slap-mallets, wood, and other homemade implements; he also covers the instrument and plays on top of the cover. All of the aforementioned are used in ways that provide the listener with sounds not commonly associated with traditional marimba performance. One can definitely see the performer's sense of humor in the titles of each track: "Floobs," "Wumbus," "Humpf," "Glikker," "Quandary," "Itch-a-Pods," "Sneedle," and "Nutches." I now leave you to Google!
The next time you are searching for a disc on a percussion distributor website,
do not be surprised if this recording doesn’t receive a "most popular" rating.
Even so, marimba nerds everywhere can appreciate MacDonald's creativity and
enthusiasm to think outside of the box. ~ T. Adam Blackstock
percussive notes 75 MAY 2012
