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A Review of Cascades from the Folk Rag by Mary Brettell:
When asked to review Cascades by Paris Dreaming (Ewan Mackenzie
& Kay Sullivan), I just wanted to say
mmmm, I love it,
I love it, I love it, I love it
but I guess you might want
to know why. Its just a feeling, really.
If you have ever seen Ewan and Kay live and loved them, as I do,
you will not be disappointed in their latest CD of beautiful gypsy
jazz style music, including several original tracks. The sound is
entrancing. At times you can imagine yourself sitting in a French
café sipping a glass of red and watching the passing trade.
At other times you will close your eyes and hear the water trickling
in the nearby creek, dancing over stones on the creek bed.
Ewans wonderful guitar work can not be surpassed and Kays
passion for the music and mastery of the accordion is the perfect
complement. This pair just blend. As I listen to it I can see Ewans
rapt smile and Kays twinkling eyes in an otherwise serene
expression (under that red cap).
The tracks reflect the settings in which they were rehearsed, including
The Cascades of Borumba Deer Park, on the banks of Yabba Creek.
Always with that Django Reinhardt influence shining through, the
mood is relaxed, mellow, light-hearted, romantic, warm and always
very, very tasty.
If you need a CD that will make you feel all of these things then
this is just what the doctor ordered. 15 tracks of pure bliss.
A Review of Cascades from the December 2008 issue of Rhythms
Magazine by Tony Hillier:
South East Queensland acoustic guitar whiz Ewan MacKenzie has been
paying eloquent homage to Django Reinhardt for the past few years
via a lead role in the well-known gypsy jazz group Mystery Pacific,
as Artistic Director of the OzManouche Festival, and more recently
in duet form with accordionist Kay Sullivan in Paris Dreaming.
The pair is well matched on Cascades, their sophomore album, Sullivan's
wheezy box proving the perfect foil for her sidekick's fluid and
impressively clean guitar work. It is a measure of the duo's composing
skills that their eight originals are compatible with three Django
tunes, which include one of the legendary jazzman's finest, 'Melodie
au Crepuscule'.
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