Christmas In The Pines - Relaxing Solo Piano & Ensemble Holiday Music for Festive Gatherings, Cozy Winter Nights & Seasonal Decorations

Product Description "Christmas is.....any number of things, I suppose. For you, the listener, Christmas is perhaps the sound of the first off-key carolers of the season, the first snowfall, or the absence of Thanksgiving leftovers on your dinner plate. For me, I encounter Christmas in an African-American spiritual, Appalachian, English, French, german, and Latin carols, and in a small town of my dreams. In reality, Christmas is where our hearts are at. Mine is in and among the snow-shrouded forests that make up the Pine Curtain, a place where music, imagination, friendships, and simple hope dwell. It is a plce you can find yourself at when you listen to "Christmas In the Pines". Review "George Maurer is more than just a good musician. He allows his playing to be a conduit to something deeper." -- Wind & Wire"His music falls into the contemporary reflective style, pioneered by such artists as George Winston. But that comparison breaks down as soon as Maurer breaks into one of his key-slamming stride piano outbursts." -- MN Public Radio"Maurer has a feel for his instrument that makes for an immediate emotional response..." -- Minneapolis Star/Tribune About the Artist George Maurer credits his parents' act of rescuing a dilapidated 1913 upright piano from a barn of ill repute (it had been used to seduce chickens and cows) and on its way to an auction in the back of an old pickup truck as his earliest "intimate experience" with a piano. That was 1972, and now that piano is being lovingly restored by George. He makes his music close to his home and his heart, and people all across the world have been making it a part of their lives ever since his solo piano debut, "Behind the Pine Curtain," in 1986. The sound of the Pine Curtain and George Maurer have recieved such recognitions as nomination for "Best Jazz/Mainstream Album of the Year" for the Minnesota Music Awards, 1998 NACA "Jazz Entertainer of the Year" nationwide, and the "Top 25 Albums of the Year 1997" (Wind & Wire Magazine) for "Land of Rest". Concert tours have carried the sound of the Pine Curtain from coast to coast, from Canada to the Carribean, and even to members of Congress and the White House. Nationally syndicated jazz networks, and Public Radio all carry the music of George Maurer to the nation. Warm music, with softly comic tales and stories from the road behind the music (detailed in all liner notes on George's albums) make for a rich and emotional experience when you listen to the music of pianist George Maurer. Band Members: George Maurer, 9' Bosendorfer Grand Jeff Engholm, fretless bass Richard Witteman, trumpet Ronnie Loew, tenor sax Muggsy lauer, guitar Nathan Hansen, sax Joe Bjorklund, drums Jesse Wheeler, drums Dik Shopteau, bass Mark Watz, bass Aaron-Keith Stewart, vocals on last track with members of the St. John's Boys' Choir See more