FRANK MORANA
AmerOrganist 40/3

JOE UTTERBACK, Hudson River Voluntaries; Connecticut River Suite. Jazzmuse, Inc., 80 Rumson Place, Little Silver NJ 07739, <www.jazzmuse.com>. $12.00 each. There are many organists who are committed jazz lovers, but the number of us who have taken the time and trouble to master the idiom are far fewer. Here, then, are some pieces in a style that mostly speaks for itself. They were written for the 2005 AGO regional conventions in the Central Hudson Valley, and in Hartford, Ct.–– hence, the connections to the Hudson River and to the Connecticut River. Hudson River Voluntaries is in five movements, each with a particular river-reference that is scripturally-based. "Mystical Vision" unfolds in sweet and slow-moving harmonies; "Streams of Gladness" is lively and epigrammatic, with expressive pauses and a fun glissando; "Riverside Prayer" is a melody with an accompaniment in whole-notes throughout, but the effect is not at all tedious, since the harmony "breathes"; "Crystal Waters" is another epigram, made up entirely of piquant, illustrative chords; "The River Euphrates Trumpet" is a jaunty march that traverses a good deal of tonal ground within a repetitive rhythmic format. The Connecticut River Suite is differently fashioned, and somewhat more overtly pianistic. It consists of three hymn-tune settings, each preceded and followed by the "gauger's call" (q. v.). Though each setting has the same basic rhythmic character (common-time, with a strong triplet lilt), the treatments are so well-varied that each retains its own strong profile. "The Gathering" ("Shall we gather at the river") is straightforward and familiar, while "On the River" ("I stood on the river of Jordan") is slow and dreamy, but with a fine declamation in full chords in the middle. "Riverside Blues" ("Down by the riverside") is more brash, and will require a degree of style-sensitivity above and beyond the written notes, but otherwise, all the pieces in both works are well within easy grasp. The "Gauger's Call"––a six-measure fanfare, mostly in parallel fourths––refers to the person who gauges the depths of the river, enabling navigation. When this was done by throwing out a weighted twine, the gauger called out the "mark-on-the-twine," or for short, "Mark Twain," which, of course, was the trademarked pseudonym of one of Hartford's most famous residents.