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Tom Pierson
Tom Pierson: Last Works
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Ominously slow, swinging cymbal stabs guide low left- hand bass lines played on black and white for the menacing opening cut of this double disc set by Japan-based composer and arranger Tom Pierson, curiously titled Last Works. Whimsical improvisations on muted trumpet to the right and right-hand piano runs on the left, bring some ease to the otherwise tense exposition created through a steadily growing groove. Occasionally the ensemble grows to loud and threatening tutti sections that wouldn't be misplaced ...
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by Roger Farbey
Classically trained Tom Pierson started out as a piano playing teenage prodigy in the early 1960s. His early orchestral background stood him in remarkably good stead since the compositions and arrangements for this masterpiece, Last Works are steeped in sonic complexity. It is also characterised by Pierson's self-stated desire not to regurgitate the past but to invent new and fresh forms. This mammoth double CD undertaking, which weighs-in at just over two hours in length, is divided into two sets" ...
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by Doug Hall
As musicians make choices and pursue a passion for music which also directs their musical orbit, looking at jazz composer, arranger and pianist Tom Pierson's resume, it is clear that a creative search for originality and exploration was paramount, from the very beginning. Gifted at the start, Pierson was a piano prodigy and a soloist with the Houston Symphony at the age of thirteen. The conductor, Sir Barbarolli wrote, I was greatly impressed by the boy's giftsparticularly a most ...
read moreTom Pierson: Planet of Tears
by Jack Bowers
Composer/pianist Tom Pierson, who now lives in Japan, recorded the music on Planet of Tears, much of it with his New York City-based big band, more than a dozen years ago. On the one hand, Pierson is a splendid writer/arranger with a well-defined game plan. (Gil Evans once called him “the best unknown composer I know.”) On the other, his writing does almost nothing for me, which is more an indication of my lack of musical comprehension than of Pierson’s ...
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