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Steve August's Christmas Time Is Here: Piano Solos marries straightforward classical artistry with playful jazz and new age stylings. If you enjoy instrumental holiday music on the ivories, and especially if you like classical music with a freestyle bent, then Christmas Time Is Here should be right up your alley.

The mood here is calm and contemplative, but not predictable. August is not afraid to employ stream-of-consciousness improvisation, shifting tempos and formats in traditionally staid pieces. The results are compelling; from tune to tune, I found myself hanging on, wondering what the next bars held in store. Well-loved tunes adopt fresh looks without disappearing entirely.

The song selection here combines contemporary, traditional, and classical, including a relatively straightforward presentation of the unexpected--I believe that this is my first holiday release containing Beethoven's Fur Elise, the familiar classical chestnut that challenged me endlessly as a piano student many, many moons ago. For me, the other surprise was Christmas Sounds (J. Gannon), a cheerful ditty with which I was previously unfamiliar. I especially enjoyed August's subtle interpretations of White Christmas and his buoyant boogie woogie on the closing Jingle Bell Boogie.

August's facile piano skills make him the master of invention, and I enjoyed being along for the ride. Thanks, Steve--your Christmas Time Is Here put me firmly in a holiday mood on a quiet September morning.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2007)

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From the liner notes:

All arrangements by Steve August
Produced by Steve and Earl Reynal, Jr.

From the artist's Website:

Steve August originally started his musical career early in his teens playing electric bass in Rock Bands with high school buddies. He played electric bass in power trios influenced by the Cream and Jimi Hendrix and the like as well as the popular music of that era. This led to performing in Jazz trios after discovering Jazz by listening to Oscar Peterson's "Tristeza". He started to study the piano to enhance his bass playing and knowledge of music and quickly fell in the love with the instrument. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston studying both electric bass and piano early in his career. That led to various working situations on the road with many groups. Soon after that, through an association with the late great Jazz Pianist Eddie Russ, Steve attended Grand Valley State University studying Jazz Piano with him and Classical Piano there too. After graduation from GVSC he played in numerous bands both as a soloist and as a sideman either on piano or electric bass. Later he received a Master of Music degree studying with Steve Zegree at Western Michigan University.

Steve has a very rich eclectic piano style drawing on the deep traditions of Classical music and reaching into the Blues, Ragtime, Boogie Woogie and many Jazz Piano styles.

Steve August

Christmas Time Is Here: Piano Solos

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Track List