trageser.com
Music Review

Home
Computers
Book Reviews and Reading Diary
CD Buying Guide and Music Links
Best-of lists
CD Reviews
CDs, sorted by Style
CDs, sorted by year issued
CDs, sorted by publication review ran in
CDs by San Diego bands
All CDs, sorted by band name
All CDs, sorted by album title
Interviews
Favorite quotations
Contact Me



All-star session with no ego

Layers of Time
Layers of Time
By Reinhard Flatischler and Megadrums

Ellipsis Arts: 1996

Buy it on CD now from Amazon.com
Buy it now


This review first appeared in the February 21, 1997 issue of the North County Times.

This is a drummers' all-star session: Airto Moreira from Brazil, Milton Cardona of Puerto Rico, and Zakir Hussain from India. These are three of the best-known percussionists in the world, joined by Glen Velez, Valeria Naranjo (Philip Glass Ensemble) and Reinhard Flatischler, who put the whole project, dubbed Megadrums, together. Over all this is the flute and saxophone of Wolfgang Puschnig.

"Layers of Time" avoids the pitfall that too many "all-star" confabs fall into – the temptation for the artists to compete against one another. Instead, this is a true ensemble effort; the songs are put first, the percussionists melding their considerable talents and individual sounds of their different drums (conga, tabla, pandeiro) into a balanced whole.