A concept album which pushes the envelope!

If nothing else 'Chris Standring' is a bonafide risk-taker. On this project, he's stepped-into new territory, previously reserved for artists like: Pat Metheny, Al Di Meola, and Pat Thomi. This CD exudes a wonderful feeling and depth, that's self-evident in every cut. Right from the begining, the artist slowly and subtlely, grabs your attention. It does have a moodiness about it, that shows a refined power and grace, especially on "Blue Bolero". This is jazz-ambience at its finest. Standring shows us another side of his immense talent, something other than, his usual free-swinging personna. Still, he manages to groove along on the connecting-tracks, with an almost hedonistic abandon, like some gleeful sun-gypsy. The whole disc is solid entertainment with great muscianship and slick arrangements. Simply beautiful! Recommended.

Nice conceptual Album

I agree with MrBjazz. This is the sort of album where you have to sit down and listen from start to finish. It has a story behind it and well done Mr. Standring, there is a lot of well written and nice arrangements here, a smooth variety of music. Reminds me of an album by Peter White. Download this and lie down, enjoy all the 15 tracks on a lazy afternoon.

Very Nice

While I have loved all of Chris' other albumns, this one is very different but just as fine. It is always interesting to see an artist diversify and it rarely works but this venture is smooth in its delivery of a more classical/latin combination. If you listen to this as an album and not just 15 songs, there is a definite story and mood that is extremly pleasing to listen to. As a music fan I give this a 10+.

Guitarist Chris Standring turns in an unusually ambitious set with Blue Bolero, one that often seems to transcend the designation of jazz, smooth or otherwise, and aspire more to classical crossover. Standring signals his intentions by beginning with an eight-minute “Overture” (there is also a “Finale” at the end), and goes on to a varied set of tracks, the titles of which tend to suggest their rhythms and tempos: “Blue Bolero,” “Fast Train to Everywhere,” “Bossa Blue,” “March of the Bowler Hats.” It’s important to note that the frequent use of the word “blue” does not indicate “blues,” as it might be expected to in jazz, but rather that the music is in a minor key and a subdued mood. Particularly in “Fast Train to Everywhere,” but also elsewhere, Standring employs string patterns (violin by Barbara Porter) as major musical elements and introduces found sounds — street atmospherics and PA announcements — in the background, as if the music were being played in a train station or airport. He also duets with a flute (Katisse Buckingham) on “Please Mind the Gap,” and performs a delicate solo acoustic piece with the brief “Regarding Techwick.” Although there are parts of the album that conform to the usual sound of contemporary jazz, much of the music sounds composed, and it is often less suggestive of jazz than of the music of, say, Laurie Anderson or even Philip Glass. It sounds like Standring is ready to move beyond his niche. – William Ruhlmann