Annie Wenz

“Annie Wenz – Winds of the World Over the years I have had the opportunity to listen to hundreds of albums and CDs that could be categorized as “World Music” and it’s a genre I am quite familiar with. My interest began in the 70s with my discovery of the Nonesuch Explorer series and Odyssey Recordings. Although the recording quality of these releases was more “documentary” than “production,” they did capture the raw and natural beauty of indigenous music from Africa to Bali to India to Persia and beyond. Later, the “New Age” genre began spinning out a lot of material that some would label as world music. After a while they all began to sound the same and I became somewhat jaded toward new releases that pretended to be … but really were not. At the same time others like Paul Winter, Oregon, Ralph Towner, Collin Walcott, and Paul Horn were creating new music that drew much from the indigenous cultures of the world. These artists were truly “compositional” in their approach. Meanwhile David Parsons began doing what Nonesuch and others did but with quality recording processes. And now we have Annie Wenz with her latest release, a CD called Winds of the World. This CD cut thru the jade and caught my ear. The first few seconds made me wonder, was this just another CD with a lot of native flute and reverb? I new Annie’s CD Poet Dance and was quite taken with that, so I was afraid she had missed the boat on this one. But I stayed with it, and, not to worry, she came through! After a little more than a minute of solo flute this beautiful piano came in, joined by some percussion played by Glen Velez, and suddenly I realized I was not listening to New Age, nor to Traditional, but to composition. So it was nice to hear the album unfold. It was nice to “not” be disappointed. The second tune sealed my opinion that Annie had done something quite special here. The mellow and somewhat muted sound of Steel Drum which opens the piece is followed by a delicate splash of a Vietnamese gong (cymbal-like in its effect).  In the background is the gentle aroma of red curry, evoked here by an electric sitar. Bells, shakers, rain tree, and an Udu Drum fill out the meal nicely. And so I was hooked. Each song seemed to unfold the same way; a simple beginning or theme, followed by a gently unfolding composition. Butterfly Spirit, the third track on the CD brought back the piano and flute combination and added the dark woody sounds of the cello to the mix. Dreams of Bali (Track 4) adds Kalimba (thumb piano) and flute together (carrying forward the keys and flute combination but in a new direction). This is perhaps the closest to “traditional” on the album. Add a little tape hiss, thin out the bottom end, and add some natural village sounds, and you’d have a Nonesuch Explorer album. And so, … on and on the CD played.  By the time I arrived at the last tune, a very pretty and delightful Korean Love Song, I knew I’d be writing this review.      Annie plays the lion's share of instruments on the CD including a variety the Native American flutes, bamboo flute, Balinese flute, and Slovakian flute (fujara). I had to pull out my book of world instruments to get some info on that one. She plays piano, kalimba, and sitrum (an Egyptian rattle-like instrument that dates back to the time of Nefertari). She is also featured on guitar as well as a variety of percussion instruments ranging from the sweet and supple sounds of Steel Drum to a variety of other rattles, gongs, bells, cymbals, and drums including, of course, the djembe, which many of you may have seen her play at the various festivals to which we all seem appear. Accompanying her are Tom Prasada-Rao on and electric sitar and violin, Glen Valez on percussion, and Vernon David on cello. Recording engineers were Norman Blain, Tom Prasada-Rao, and Mark Hafner, and mastering by Jim Hemmingway. I mention all because they did a superb job blending this meal together. The layering of sounds worked beautifully and to the greater good of the music, making these instruments sound as if they had been played together for millennia. So, if you’re a fan of either the traditional sounds of the global village or if you’re a fan of Oregon, Paul Winter and company, I think you’ll like this one. I know I do. Bill Beckett William A. Beckett Program Director Web   http://www.wuftfm.org/ WUFT-FM & WJUF-FM Gainesville, FL” - William A. Beckett

“...the Valley’s purveyor of internationalist folk mines Latin, African and distinctly American idioms...”

“(About "Winds of the World") Hey Baby It’s F!%$&*!!! Awesome!!! Congratulations!!!” - Tom Prasada-Rao

“Annie, You are amazing! A lust for life like Vincent. You are truly an inspiration, a constant flow of energy like rapids down the Colorado...” - Lester Hirch

“It’s not just WHAT she does... it’s the WAY she does it!...” - Fred Kaiser

“Poet's Dance"...it's all beautiful & powerful...People love it...so do I!...” - Tommy Sands~ Performer/Songwriter/Activist

“If beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, does it also reside in the ear of the listener? And if it does reside there, would I then be incredibly presumptuous in declaring Annie Wenz's Time is Magic to be an inarguably beautiful album? Yes and yes? Oh well. I've been called worse things. Time is Magic is an inarguably beautiful album. Opening track "Dance Under the Moon" perfectly frames Wenz's unique musical nether-world, which is bordered by traditional guitar-based folk and various Native/Latin American musical styles. "Moon"'s arrangement is kick-in-the-solar-plexus surprising (it sits you down and sucks your wind out with an befuddled, involuntary ahhhhhhh when you hear it the first time)--but it prepares you for the album's rich melange of acoustic guitar, fiddle, cello, flute, percussion and even (gasp!) an electric lead line on "Wild Horses", which ends up sounding like Richard Thompson/Sandy Denny era Fairport Convention. Wenz is also an evocative lyricist and story-teller: lines like "Richard couldn't live in the flats anymore/the devil lived in his stove and the creaks in his door were the voices of hell come to haunt him" make you want to listen to songs that were already wonderful when you were just hearing them. Does it get much better than this? Maybe. Does it get more beautiful? No. Are you ready to call me presumptuous? Listen to the album before you do.”

““If you don’t ‘get’ Annie Wenz, you’re not fit to live!!!”” - Steve Seskin

“...potent musical brew with timely subjects in her lyrics...sliding slurring vocals and rhythmic guitar work...musically traveling down a road that has been lightly used and is very refreshing to hear.”

“...Annie Wenz...The Polish Gypsy Folk Goddess...” - Ellen Hayman