FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MASTER IMPROVISATIONAL PIANIST
JOHN BAYLESS
RETURNS TO HIS ROOTS WITH AN ALBUM FUSING THE MUSIC OF ELTON JOHN AND
THE STYLE OF BACH
CIRCLE OF LIFE MARKS BAYLESS=92S FIRST ALBUM RELEASE
ON ANGEL RECORDS SINCE 1999
(May 20, 2008) In 1985, pianist John Bayless began his recorded music
career with Bach Meets the Beatles, an album where he brilliantly
improvised on the songs of the Beatles in the style of Johann
Sebastian Bach. Twenty-three years later, Bayless remains one of the
top classical crossover stars in the US =97 his albums have consistently
topped the charts, and he has sold well into the hundreds of
thousands. On his new album, Circle of Life, he once again fuses the
music of Bach with popular tunes =97 though this time taking his melodic
inspiration from the songs of Elton John.
The juxtapositions are striking. =93Your Song=94 mixes with snippets from
the D Major Piano Concerto, =93Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road=94 dances with
the gigue from Brandenburg Concerto No.5, while =93Can You Feel the Love
Tonight=94 becomes a solemn chorale. In each track, Bayless gets to the
heart of the song, pairs it with a Bach piece of similar emotional
sentiment, and then lets the music flow, often leading to unexpected
places.
Bayless=92s improvisations never fail to impress, surprise, and move
listeners. In Elton John, he has found a sympathetic muse, and the
stunning results speak for themselves, sure to pique the interest of
fans of either artist.
John Bayless has built a career on his gift of improvisation and his
canny musical choices. Born and raised in Borger, Texas, John Bayless
won a scholar****p to the Aspen School of Music at age 15, and two
years later moved to New York to study with Adele Marcus at The
Juilliard School of Music. Bayless was invited to participate as a
composer in the inaugural class of New York University's Musical
Theater Masters Degree Program where he studied with Leonard
Bernstein, Jule Styne, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph
Green.
His Puccini Album, released in 1993, topped the Billboard Classical
crossover chart for 18 weeks and sold over 170,000 copies. =93The Movie
Album=94 (1996) and =93Romantica=94 (1999) followed with nearly the same
level of success. In recent seasons, John Bayless has played more
that 175 concerts. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall in a performance
of his own West Side Story Concert Variations for solo piano and
orchestra, made his Tanglewood debut playing Gershwin's Rhapsody in
Blue with the Boston Pops, opened the San Francisco Summer Pops season
with the same work and appeared in three sold-out concerts at the
Hollywood Bowl with John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
Most recently he has been presenting =93Amadeus Live=94 in which he takes
on the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in a typical day of the
composer=92s life.
TRACKLISTING:
1. Circle of Life
2. Your Song
3. Tiny Dancer
4. Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
5. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word to Say
6. Believe
7. Daniel
8. Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road
9. The One
10. Crocodile Rock
11. Rocket Man (I Think It=92s Going to Be a Long, Long Time)
12. Candle in the Wind
13. The Last Song
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For more information contact: cinemediapromo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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