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TITLE: ROOM OF WONDERS

ARTIST: JAYME STONE

LABEL: SELF PRODUCED

RELEASE DATE: 2010

By Nick Smith

This CD is made up of what can truly be considered “world music,” ranging from Irish reels to Norwegian polkas, with many detours along the way. The music is all dance music, or inspired by dance music, or inspired by the kind of music that a band would play at the end of a dance to let everyone know it was time to go home. One of the tunes is based on J. S. Bach’s arrangement of an old set of folk tunes. Other pieces are from Brazilian or Italian influences, and even a very strange Tunisian-based waltz. Each piece is worth listening to on its own, but the recording as a whole takes the listener on a quick tour to lands which might or might not exist outside the boundaries of this recording.

In addition to the relatively common banjo, fiddle, guitar, the recording includes trumpet, trombone, drums and even a nyckelharpa. This leads to some very unusual instrumental combinations, which generally work very well. Even the less familiar sounds and tunes blend to make each track an unusual listening experience. This is not tame music for the timid. It’s music for those who want their ears to taste something new and spicy.

Jayme Stone is a banjo player, two-time winner of the Juno award in Canada. Unlike many players of traditional instruments, though, he has not limited himself to a single style or area. The tunes are influenced by classical, jazz and world music, but also the literary traditions of the same lands represented by the music. The original pieces in this collection hold up well in comparison to the arrangements of traditional music.

Jayme Stone will be touring California in March of 2012, with three other musicians, to share some of the music from this release and other such stuff as world music dreams are made.

Jayme Stone will be performing in concert Wednesday, February 29, 8:00pm at The Loft at UCSD, San Diego, March 1st, 7:30pm at SOHo Restaurant and Music Club, Santa Barbara and Sunday, March 4^th, 7:30pm at CTMS Center for Folk Music, Encino. Tickets can be purchased for the CTMS concert on this website.

Nick Smith is coordinator of the Caltech Folk Music Society and President of  the Board of Directors of the California Traditional Music Society, as well as a performing storyteller.