STEVE BARTA: Three Ships

Steve Barta

Three Ships

© 2003 Steve Barta (633043091829)

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Instrumental jazz trio with string orchestra

notes

Three Ships

Steve's latest Christmas release features an eclectic blend of songs and of All of your favorite contemporary Christmas songs performed with a string orchestra. Refreshing and expansive symphonic accompaniment captures the magic and majesty of the holiday season.

Instrument: Piano, Bass, Drums, Flute, Oboe and String Orchestra.

Special Guests: Kim Stone, Russell Burnett, Paul Nagem, Guy Dutra-Silveira, and String Orchestra.


Pianist Steve Barta is a composer, author, producer and recording artist. Lending his talent to symphonic orchestras, film scores, jazz ensembles, and classically influenced solo piano, his original compositions reflect a great diversity of style. Steve is perhaps best known for fusing Classical, Jazz and Brasilian influences to create a sound that is distinctly BARTA.

Steve's orchestral works include: Heritage Suite, A Midwest Dream (solo piano and orchestra) and several pieces for jazz quartet and orchestra. The debut performance of Heritage Suite was performed in the Czech Republic in 1991 with symphonic orchestra.

Steve currently has 11 recorded works. After debut album Rossport, Steve teamed up with Jazz great Herbie Mann to create the Brazilian influenced Blue River. These recordings have received wide critical acclaim and radio airplay across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Canada.

Steve's well-loved solo piano release, Moments in Movement, includes his symphonic arrangement of A Midwest Dream recorded on tour in Eastern Europe with symphonic orchestra. Each recording of original songs has its own striking sound yet captures Steve's distinctive style. His 5 successful Christmas recordings reveal his talent in interpreting and arranging classics. All of Steve's recordings and books are available exclusively on the Steve Barta Music label.

Steve authored The Source (Hal Leonard Publishing), a multi-instrumental scale/chord dictionary, in 1986 to wide critical acclaim. Now in its 13th printing, The Source teaches the basic tenets of jazz improvisation by educating the reader about the harmonic possibilities between scales and chords. Used by musicians and educational systems, The Source has become the standard in the music industry. Also published by Hal Leonard is Steve's transcription for piano titled Christmas Around the World.

In 1991, Steve joined a distinguished list of concert pianists when he was recognized as a Steinway Artist by the venerable piano maker Steinway & Sons. As a Steinway Artist, Steve is provided with a Steinway grand piano on any concert stage in the world.

Steve, a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado, spends most of his time composing. He accepts a limited number of private commissions each year, ranging from solo piano to full symphonic works.

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  • Whether jazzing it up or playing bona fide classics (Ave Maria), his music is ac
    author: Richard Banks

    In this instance, his soft touch serves up a jazzy new Christmas record. From the opening Caroling, Caroling through the first half of the CD, he plays improvisational counterpoint to Kim Stone's effective jazz bass line. Later on, he relaxes into his more measured and classical groove, creating a foundation for the other instrumentalists he has chosen to enrich this latest winter offering--a string orchestra and flutes, primarily. But whether jazzing it up (It Looks Like December, for example) or playing bona fide classics (Ave Maria), his music is accessible and soothing. Accessible in its ability to be jazzy without all those bitter scales of interest only to hard core jazzers, and gently soothing, without ever becoming translucently ambient or cloyingly ethereal. What Barta does best is present music with a steady hand, in a manner palatable to garden variety listeners. It is comfortably straightforward evening music which has the heart and complexity to work well in the foreground but whose content and style still has some affinity for the quiet background.

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