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Review Kathy Parsons - Mainly Piano Oct 2011

Christmas Joy

Fiona Joy Hawkins

2011 / Little Hartley Music

56 minutes

www.mainlypiano.com/2011_Reviews/Hawkins-Christmas_Joy.html

 

Christmas Joy is Fiona Joy Hawkins’ beautiful contribution to the world of Christmas and holiday music. She co-produced the album with Grammy Award winner Corin Nelsen, with Will Ackerman acting as production advisor. Hawkins appears on piano and some of the vocals, backed by a very impressive list of musicians and singers that include Philip Aaberg, Will Ackerman, Heather Rankin, Charlie Bisharat, and Eugene Friesen. The eleven tracks include four originals and seven familiar and traditional Christmas pieces, but even the traditional songs are given a brand new feel with improvisation and original interpretations. Until you’ve heard “Jingle Bells” with didgeridoo in the background, you haven’t really heard it! It is interesting to note that Fiona recorded this album on a Stuart and Son’s piano, a relatively new Australian piano that is hand-made and getting rave reviews all over the world. This really isn’t just another Christmas album - it is more of a musical event that follows up Hawkins’ multi-award winning 2008 album Blue Dream.

 

Christmas Joy opens with one of my favorite songs - “Walking In the Air” from The Snowman. It begins as a piano solo with light string washes in the background, emphasizing the haunting melody. On the second verse, Heather Rankin sings a counter-melody with Gaelic lyrics. This piece is so beautiful that it takes your breath away. I will probably have that track worn out before Christmas! “Still Still Still” is light, playful, and completely charming. Paraguayan harp adds some unusual touches and gives this arrangement a world music feeling. “Silent Night” is very slow and conveys a sense of deep peace and calm. “Gliding On a Sleigh” brings in Charlie Bisharat on violin and Premik Russell Tubbs on soprano sax. Also very slow and serene, it paints a gorgeous portrait of a peaceful winter scene. “Christmas Wedding” shimmers and sparkles with bright white bliss. “O Come O Come Emmanuel” is another favorite song of mine and is one of the earliest carols. This arrangement is unusual in that Friesen adds “God Rest Ye Gentlemen” as a counter-melody for one of the verses - and it works incredibly well. “Flight of the Snowbird” is a lovely new arrangement of one of Hawkins’ signature pieces, “Flight of the Albatross.” A string trio joins the piano, adding a richness and fullness to the already gorgeous piece. Love it! Piano, cello, and violin perform an elegant and graceful “The Holly and the Ivy” that is somewhat slower than you usually hear it, but is perfect at this leisurely pace. “Christmas Joy” picks up the tempo and dances for - you guessed it! A full ensemble joins in on this one, conveying unbridled happiness and warm contentment. “Away In a Manger” brings us back to “the reason for the season” with a sweet and tender lullaby for piano, violin, and cello - a touching and fitting conclusion to a fantastic album.

 

Christmas Joy is an album I’ve been looking forward to, and it was well-worth the wait. It is available from www.littlehartleymusic.com, Amazon, iTunes, and CD Baby. I highly recommend it!

 

Kathy Parsons

MainlyPiano.com

10/20/11

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Christmas Joy
Christmas Joy
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Latest Competition

News - Competition - Be Seen - Be Heard.

Showcase your musical talent and be heard by Will Ackerman, Grammy winning Producer (Founder of Windham Hill Records)

Little Hartley Music and Fiona Joy Hawkins would like to give our talented friends and fans a wide audience, a chance to win prizes, and the opportunity to be heard by Will Ackerman, Founder of Windham Hill Records, Producer of George Winston, Liz Story, Michael Hedges, Alex de Grassi, Fiona Joy Hawkins, and others. Will is widely known as a scout with an ear for extraordinary talent.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Purchase sheet music of a song from Blue Dream
  2. Make a video of yourself playing the song, with sheet music visible
  3. Upload your video to YouTube http://www.YouTube.com/
  4. Using the “contact me” button on my site, send your YouTube link in order for us to view your performance. Include your name and contact information (also your web site if you have one). In addition, we’ll need your mailing address for prize delivery, and if you use a “stage name”, how you would like it to appear on the web site.


NOTE: Your choice does not have to be played on piano; use the instrument on which you’re most proficient. Briefly tell us how long you’ve played the instrument and your hopes for a musical future. We’d also love to hear your reasons for choosing the particular piece you’re playing.

What Can You Win?

Each month one winner will receive four Fiona Joy Hawkins autographed CD’s. The best performance video will be featured on my Youtube page in a “Winner” section for one month. Along with the video, links to winners’ web addresses will be included on my web site, thus opening opportunities for your musical goals.

In addition, you will receive a congratulatory letter and performance notes from Will Ackerman and should you be interested in recording, the chance to meet and discuss this possibility with him.

Four Simple Rules:

  • Must purchase sheet music for selection from Blue Dream
  • Video record yourself playing selection, with sheet music clearly identifiable
  • Video must be shown on YouTube
  • Video must be viewable and appropriate for all ages...material deemed inappropriate will be disqualified

 

www.fionajoyhawkins.com.au/competition

 

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November 21st 2010: Sydney - The Basement

November: Sydney - The Basement 21st Nov (see below)

Fiona Joy Hawkins FIONA JOY HAWKINS & BLUE DREAM + guest performance by WILL ACKERMAN (USA - Windham Hill) *8:30PM START*

Secure booking.

The Basement, NSW

Sun 21 Nov

08:30 PM

Blue Dream is a group of musicians with a diverse range of styles and improvisational skills that brings to life the musical compositions of Fiona Joy Hawkins.

The group has an eclectic and musically diverse range of experience that includes World music, jazz rhythms and classical influences.  Blue Dream spans genres, styles and has no pigeon hole.  There is NO sounds like..

Fiona Joy Hawkins
Fiona has four award winning albums Portrait of a Waterfall, Angel Above My Piano, ICE Piano Slightly Chilled and Blue Dream.  She has charted at #1 on the New Age Reporter International Radio Charts achieving the highest ranking in the history of the charts, been an ARIA Finalist, won the ZMR Album of the Year, Best Piano Album (twice) and Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, Best Dance/Dub/Club Album as well as winning the Music OZ Award for Best Classical/Jazz Artist in 2008.  She has had over 37 nominations in Indie Artist Awards across 9 countries.

Fionas recent album Blue Dream was produced by Grammy winner Will Ackerman     (Founder of Windham Hill) and has been released on the ABC label. She is the first Independent Australian artist to release a 5.1 multichannel super audio CD and will be recording a new CD for early 2011 to be recorded on a Stuart and Sons piano in Newcastle.

BLUE DREAM began as the most ambitious project of my entire career and resulted in one of the most remarkable collaborations this genre has ever known.  Blue Dream is unique and Im as proud of it as anything Ive ever worked on in my 35 year career of Grammy Awards and gold/ platinum records...Will Ackerman     (Founder Windham Hill Records) Windham County, Vermont 2008

The mood on BLUE DREAM ranges from vibrant to sensual to haunting Hawkins stellar musical vision on this project is worthy of great praise. She wowed us with her 2007 release ICE Piano Slightly Chilled, and with BLUE DREAM Fiona Joy Hawkins enters the realm of masterful...Sandy Shore. Smoothjazzfm.com

Fiona Joy Hawkins is internationally regarded as one of the finest artists on the New Age/Ambient Music scene.  Blue Dream (the album) represents the very best of this music genre and follows in the great tradition of artists such as George Winston. This beautifully crafted album has already been hailed in the US as a work of pure genius.......ABC Music


Will Ackerman         has performed at The Imperial Palace in Tokyo, The Kremlin, The Montreux Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks, Ravinia and Wolf Trap. Will is the founder of Windham Hill Records, the producer of artists George Winston, Michael Hedges, Liz Story and Alex de Grassi and has received numerous Platinum and Gold Record awards. He has been profiled in the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Esquire, Rolling Stone and People Magazine.

Wills latest recording, RETURNING, won a Grammy Award in 2005.

. Ackermans pieces have that timeless introspection that has made his music so enduring. BILLBOARD


Band Members
Fiona Joy Hawkins.     Piano, Composition, Vocals
Rebecca Daniel.          Violin, Vocals, Arrangement
Andy Busuttil                  Percussion, Wind Instruments, Vocals
Dave Ellis                   Double Bass
John Napier                 Cello 

Rebecca Daniel
While at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Rebecca Daniel studied with Emanuel Hurwitz and the Amadeus String Quartet; and performed chamber music throughout the UK. After being invited to join the Australian Chamber Orchestra, she discovered the joys of Musical Theatre and was the orchestra leader for Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Beauty & the Beast and The Sound of Music; she played in West Side Story and A Little Night Music.

She has performed, toured and recorded with some extraordinary musicians including John Denver, Bread, John Farnham, INXS, Anthony Warlow, Shirley Bassey and Barbra Streisand; and has also recorded many movie soundtracks, such as Strictly Ballroom and Moulin Rouge. And now Rebecca is a member of Blue Dream with Fiona Joy Hawkins

Andy Busuttil    
Andy Busuttil         is a renowned Australian transcultural musician. He has performed at major festivals and with many musicians from a wide range of genres. One of his most recent passions is in exploring the place of his origin, the Islands of the Maltese Archipelago.  Andy uses this influence along with his improvisational skills on voice, clarinet, saxillo (hybrid clarinet/Hungarian Tarratato) and percussion with Blue Dream and the influences from street vendors and ghanejja Bormliza of Malta, to the sinuous wind players of the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia Minor and the percussionists of the Middle East, Greece, Macedonia and Turkey have found a new and welcome home in Fionas compositions.

"Musicians like Andy Busuttil         are the heart and soul of music. Like all similarly besotted passionate souls , he plays, not for monetary gain or from a desire to feed his ego, but because he loves his music, he believes music is a common language that can bind us all closer together as human beings, and because he just plain bloody well enjoys it.! And he tries to communicate this passion and this sense of sharing and communication with his audiences in his performances. Andy may well be singing in Turkish, Kurdish, or whatever, but really he is singing in the common language of humanity - compassion, honesty, joy. What more can you want from music?"........ Eric Bogle

Dave Ellis
In a playing career which has spanned nearly 50 years, Dave has been a member of the Western Australian and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust Sydney Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, various freelance Orchestras, Jazz, Rock, Country Music, Cabaret, Experimental groups and now, the contemporary Flamenco group, Arrebato Ensemble.

He has played the Sydney and some national seasons of  many Music Theatre and Stage productions, and has also played for hundreds of Record Albums/CDs, Film Scores Television shows and Jingles/Commercials.

Dave has performed in Concert and  Cabaret with artists including Peggy Lee, George Benson, Antony and the Johnsons, Eartha Kitt, Al Jareau, Milt Jackson, Phil Woods, Sir George Martin, Tim Draxl, Julie Anthony, Val Doonican, David Campbell and has been Bassist for Maestro Tommy Tycho for more than 35 years, and now with Fiona Joy Hawkins in Blue Dream.

John Napier
John has a doctorate in Musicology from UNSW, where he lectures full time. His performing life is extremely varied and has included classical, rock and pop gigs and recordings. He is especially known for his work with the Institute of Eastern Music and his improvisations with performers of traditional Indian music. He has performed in the U.S, Italy, Japan and India and has appeared with various groups such as The Mambologists, Southern Crossings, The One Extra Dance Company, and with Robyn Archer at the Sydney Opera House, and now with Fiona Joy Hawkins in Blue Dream

 

 

Gen. admission Standing: $35.00 + booking fee
(purchase online at the bottom of this page)

Dinner & Show tickets: $83.80 per person
Dinner & Show tickets include entry, seating and a 2 course meal (entree & main, 4 choices for each). Dinner & Show tickets are only available by phone.
Call the Basement Box Office to book on (612) 9251 2797 (Mon - Fri 10 am - 5:30 pm)

ALL PATRONS MUST BE OVER THE AGE OF 18
ONCE PURCHASED, TICKETS ARE NON-REFUNDABLE & NON-TRANSFERABLE
(Applies to both Standing and Dinner sales)
Please ensure you bring photo ID as proof of age
A booking fee applies to all advance tickets. [All quoted prices include tax].
Restaurant Opening times: Mon to Fri: Lunch from midday to 2.00 pm, Dinner from 7.30 pm. Sat & Sun: Dinner from 7.30 pm
Bistro: Open til late for the best light meals, late night suppers and coffees in town.
Dress: Smart/Casual at Manager's discretion.
PLEASE NOTE DOORS OPEN AT 7.30PM, MUSIC STARTS AROUND 9.30PM UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED UNDER THE DATE ABOVE.

 

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July 31st 2010: Hawkesbury Arts Council

31st July:  Hawkesbury Arts Council - with the Blue Dream band - Richmond (NSW Australia) enquiries 0402066578 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Newsflash

Christmas Joy
Christmas Joy
Listen/Buy
HERE NOW
Also in ABC Shops & Centres
I-Tunes, Amazon and other fine retailers.