In That Bright World
Published:
COMPOSERS: Jody Diamond
LABELS: New World Records
WORKS: In That Bright World: Music for Javanese Gamelan
PERFORMER: Jody Diamond (singer)
CATALOGUE NO: New World Records 80698-2
The singer Jody Diamond has been studying gamelan with Javanese teachers in California since the 1970s, and for In That Bright World she marshals an ensemble of top Javanese players to support her endeavour to show how their way of elaborating a melody can be applied to American standards like ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ and ‘Hard Times’. This may be admirable in theory, but it’s hard to listen to the results with a straight face. Michael Church