From The Stars By Russ Jones

 

From The Stars

By

Russ Jones

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

Russ Jones has to be one of the most artistic and an inventive flautist of his day, with each release one cannot wait to hear what he has come up with this time around. This 13 track collection of crafted pieces is entitled, From The Stars and is one of the most ethereal and vast bodies of work he has thus far produced.

The opening piece is called As I Know and it has to be one of the most expansive manifestations from the artist of all time, the flow of tone from the flute seems to drift into an echo chamber of time itself, and reverberates around our senses with an energy of perfection.

As we move onward She Knows brings us an ambient repose, and allows the listener a chance to just be, in a blissfully meditative composition, while on Outer lines a more ethnic styled opus can be found, the shape of tone and timbre here is almost haunting in its structures, and in part reminds me of the earlier works of Terry Oldfield.

The sharper vibrations of Sunlite Shining certainly raises the rhythms of the album completely, and perhaps even allows us to see the shadows and fractal formations in a piece that is wonderfully peace filled and soothing.

We approach one of the most melodious compositions from the album and it’s called Lonely Stars, one cannot help but to love this piece, it reminds me of my days in the dusk of my childhood, watching the night sky become clear and real on a summers evening, and gazing at the beauty unfurling above me.

Russ is without doubt an accomplished performer and creator, and on this somewhat deeper and darker track entitled Orbits, we see that in abundance. One can even feel the gentle rotation of the globe, and watch our moons orbit dance around us in this delightfully tempered and tranquil creation.

Now we drift literally into the latter half of the album as we reach the piece Reaching Beyond the Stars, for me this is one of those aforementioned expansive pieces, the sheer vast quality of tone that Jones creates here is splendid, and as such allows the listener time to fully embrace the textures of this crafted solo flute composition.

The more mysterious energies of Collision come now to our attention; this has a mournful quality that is both reflective, yet inevitable, this deeply moving offering depicts for me a certain coming together of two sources. Whilst on Inner Reaches the heavy curtains of uncertainty are pulled back, this huge composition once more reminded of the work of Oldfield, but also whilst listening to the flute, images of a whale would come to the fore in one of the most fascinating pieces from the release.

The next open doorway to brilliance is the clever and craftily performed offing of Warbling Lights, there is a shimmering essence to this track that I find delightfully compelling, almost like watching a heat hazed horizon in mid-summer.

Rotating is our next track and a piece that can be found deep into the weave and tapestry of this sublime album, in an almost Deuter styled performance. Jones brings us a moment of meditative magic, with a track that inspires serenity and motion, a track that would be perfectly suited perhaps for a Tai Chi practise.

We find ourselves now at the penultimate piece off the release and its title is Lonely Times. We may detect a thoughtful movement here, perhaps a cry of sadness, but here on this memory filled arrangement we are gifted a delicate performance that needs to be listened to multiple times over to garner the nature of construction, and to enjoy those artistic nuances contained within.

So we’re knocking on the last door to the album, this one is called Inside and is another fascinating offering that creates a mood of apprehension and caution, but also one of a slow movement forwards whilst making new inner discoveries, but regardless a truly compelling and mysterious conclusion to a superb album.

From The Stars by Russ Jones is a master work of solo flute designed to take the listener on a journey of sight and sound, allowing this most grateful audience a chance to slow down, be calm and enjoy a transformative flute presentation. There can be no doubt that Russ Jones is one of the world’s most artistic flute content creators, and as such I have no shadow of a doubt that From The Stars by Russ Jones is going to be a huge hit on the global charts, it is that good.