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20th Century Guitar Magazine
review by Robert Silverstein BRIAN ROLLAND Dreams of Brazil (On The Full Moon) An accomplished acoustic guitarist and composer, Brian Rolland is a master at fashioning folk, jazz, flamenco, classical and Latin music flavors for acoustic guitar and those strengths come sharply into focus on his CD Dreams Of Brazil. Even though he grew up on a musical diet of blues and folk legends like Muddy Waters and Tom Rush, Rolland soon gravitated towards the jazz sound of greats like Miles Davis and Weather Report. Fittingly, the nine track Dreams Of Brazil features a spirited Rolland cover of the Joe Zawinul classic "In A Silent Way". Rolland is in fine company assisted by John Lockwood (bass) and Bob Weiner (drums). For sheer musical relaxation and radiance, it doesn't get any better than 'Dreams Of Brazil'. |
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Brian Rolland is a native son of Cambridge MA, where he drank in a wide range of music in his youth. Blues and folk greats like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Tom Rush who he heard very early on at the Club 47 in the '60s, the constant stream of New York Jazz greats like Miles Davis, Weather Report and Keith Jarrett through the Jazz Workshop, Greater Boston's exceptional classical music, and a rock scene that created The J. Geils Band and Aerosmith were his creative influences, along with Jobim, Milton Nascimento, and a host of others. His writing draws on all these styles, along with a stream of influences and sounds from nature: birds, water, sky and sun. The cycles of the Moon and the planets. Dawn and dusk, and all their colors and patterns. After early lessons on the clarinet and piano it was the guitar, at age 12, that he fell in love with. By age 14 he was playing professionally. His musical interests led him through blues, folk, country, and rock styles, to fusion, jazz, Brazilian, African, and Latin music and intensive study of the classical guitar, all of which figure in his playing today. Formal studies yielded a BA in Music Theory and Composition,time at Berklee School of Music and the New England Conservatory, classical guitar at the Aspen Festival and in Madrid, and Flamenco guitar in Andalucia with the inimitable traditional master Rafael de Antequera. He has had the good fortune to perform behind jazz greats Clark Terry (at the Montreux Jazz Festival) and Dizzy Gillespie in big band settings and has made innumerable concert, club, and radio appearances both as a solo guitarist and with many and varied groups including a stint co-leading a band for Boston's own blues legend, Toni Lynn Washington. Brian's playing and writing draw on this broad background which he has woven into a unique idiom anchored in mastery of the classical instrument and flowering into the many styles that have influenced him along the way. Among his recordings are 'Guitar Bazaar', the yet-to-be-released, 'Iberianas', the solo guitar album, 'Long Night's Moon', and 'Dreams of Brazil' which has had worldwide attention and radio airplay, along with it's success on the charts in the USA, throughout 2006. Two new releases, 'The Tide's In', and 'Live On a Summer's Day' are slated for 2007 and 2008. 'KickIt!', the first single from 'The Tide's In', can be heard and downloaded at www.MySpace.com/BrianRolland. Founder of 'On The Full Moon' Productions, a unique and original music production company. Member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and a repeat recipient of an ASCAP Composers Award. |
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