REVIEW: Tim Bedner’s “Of Light And Shadow”
Guitarist Tim Bedner is the kind of musician that will make you re-evaluate your musicianship, as he beautifully will show you in his new album Of Light And Shadow (self-released). He is a guitarist who plays with grace and style, never with a force, understanding that his emphasis of space is just as important as the sound he places within it. He’s here in a trio setting with drummer Jeff Asselin and multi-instrumentalist Normand Glaude, and together they show why the album was named what it is. One may be reminded of some of the jazz pop of the mid to late 70′s, hints of George Benson’s In Flight album or the ECM intensity of Pet Metheny, Bedner’s playing sets the mood, while Glaude and Asselin are the mood enhancers, although at times they play as if they are the mood creators, which makes sense. My favorite track on this is “Chiarosuro”, and with the weather already becoming cold in the northern hemisphere, this is sure to make those chilly nights warmer (and moist).
The back cover shows that these 9 songs are the “Of Light And Shadow Suite”, and the track listing is specifically split in two parts, vinyl style, so that songs 1-4 could be viewed as Side 1, songs 5-9 as Side 2, so that you can pace yourself (in whatever you choose to do with this music) and choose to place a mental or physical time-out at the right point. Either way, as a 9-song suite, on its own as individual songs, or as one solid body of work, Of Light And Shadow is an album which shows how being reserved can sometimes be more rewarding than always being in your face with the way you play. You can do that in a different way, and Bedner shows that here.
What do you think?