Elevator Music?

[molee]

I only recently heard Richard's CD "Richard Carpenter- Pianist, Arranger, Composer, Conductor." I acknowledge that Richard is an incredibly talented pianist, arranger, composer and conductor, but I was very disappointed in this CD. To me it is overly syrupy and sounds like elevator music. I don't think it does his talent justice. Have I missed something? Is there something on this CD where I missed the sheer genius of it (and to which I should give another listen)? I would appreciate your opinions.

-Mo Lee

[Rick Henry]

I'm with you on this one Mo Lee. I was also quite disappointed with this disc. It was basically instrumental versions of Carpenters tunes. Not much of a stretch of the imagination. And at that the new arrangements weren't really anything all that creative. It's just there. Richard Carpenter has so much talent as an arranger, composer and pianist yet I feel he wastes his talent by either playing it too safe and/or by trying to recreate that Carpenters sound.

I have said this several times before, I feel he should go out on a limb a bit and go back to his earliest roots and produce an instrumental jazz album and utilize the creative and quirky rhythms as we heard early on in the Richard Carpenter Trio. He should look into some of his early jazz influences such as Dave Brubeck and create a sizzling and tasty jazz album... With this he would probably gain a good amount of recognition and respect.

[Dave]

The guy has so much talent, and yet...

He could have done movie soundtracks, but he doesn't believe that he has the ability.
He could have been doing a syndicated radio show like John Tesh does.
Instead, he hangs out in Japan and the Phillipines living in the past, as Rick says.

There is a Biblical passage about hiding one's light under a basket that comes into mind here.

[molee]

Rick,

I think yor are right. Richard should consider returning to his roots with more numbers like "Iced Tea" or his version of "Caravan." He may be reluctant to do so now because his early jazz recordings were not commercial successes by any stretch of the imagination. But then again, why would he need a commercial success? He's had plenty of that. I hope that in the future that he chooses to confirm to his fans that he is an incrediable musical talent now as he was then...and that he has not lost that talent to mere elevator music.

-Mo Lee

[Rick Henry]

Jun 15, 2009 15:20:40 GMT -5 molee said:

Rick,

I think yor are right. Richard should consider returning to his roots with more numbers like "Iced Tea" or his version of "Caravan." He may be reluctant to do so now because his early jazz recordings were not commercial successes by any stretch of the imagination. But then again, why would he need a commercial success? He's had plenty of that. I hope that in the future that he chooses to confirm to his fans that he is an incrediable musical talent now as he was then...and that he has not lost that talent to mere elevator music.

-Mo Lee

I believe he might actually gain a measure of commercial success in producing a jazz album as the genre is very popular right now.

If anything he would receive kudos from the critics which is something that has eluded Richard completely with his solo works.