RECORDINGS
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"Time to Think" (2003) Zephyrwood Music
Music that was composed & originally released on "Pictures in Mind" - "13" - "Unusual Charteristics" - Strike, Light, Puff AMG REVIEW BIO of Earnest Woodall is one of those rare musicians that can write, perform, record, package, and release their own material without any financial or artistic interference from record companies. Starting in the late eighties, the ambient/jazz composer began putting together bedroom recordings, slowly making the transition to better equipment and sound quality through the years. Releasing an album per year, Woodall's abilities to daringly write in whatever genre he sees fit when the fancy strikes him is not only admirable, but downright impressive considering how little outside support he receives. Using just about anything to inspire his writing, he reached a high point with 2002's Pictures in Mind, an album written after a particularly moving trip to a New York art museum. – Bradley Torreano |
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"Pictures in Mind" (2002) Zephyrwood Music
AMG REVIEW: Pictures in Mind by Earnest Woodall is a multifaceted and multi-talented multi-instrumentalist from Northport, NY. He has been recording music for multimedia events and installations for years. He visited art museums in New York City, including the Museum of Modern Art, and the paintings that he "viewed and admired" serve as the inspiration for Pictures in Mind. This is a delightfully quirky set of different atmospheres. It is definitely new age, and Woodall definitely uses electronics. He employs avant-garde structures and ambient/minimalist sensitivities. The compositions are lighthearted, and there is just the slightest hint of mischief. This wonderfully offbeat CD has few legitimate comparisons. The closest would be the efforts of the Beau Hunks and the Caribbean Dream CDs by Brannan Lane. – Jim Brenholts |
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"13" (2000) Zephyrwood Music
Take a little minimalism, a pinch of jazz, a splash of academicism, a tablespoon of traditional avant garde, and a strong feel for the post modern concept, what do you get? "13" by Earnest Woodall that is wrapped up in a crystal clear production that brings out the best in the inherent disjointed melodies and thick soundscape that he is so well known for. The initial reaction is to see it as a kind of musical version of the "Blairwitch Project", with something sinister always lurking beneath the surface. Sonic collages and musical explorations of rhythm, frequency, spectra & harmonic relationships that will give you a glimpse into the creators dark side. An intricate web of industrial sounds using a nice collection of instruments and sampled sounds. |
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"Unusual Charteristics" (1999) Zephyrwood Music A collage of environmental backgrounds and foregrounds, mixing and submerging, with musical vignettes and compositional snippets, of varied orchestrations of synthesizer produced chamber instruments and outdoor sounds. The experience is like a kaleidoscope of musical styles, colors, and statements juxtaposed with the everyday sounds of life, and stream of consciousness. One continuous parade, it has not the hysteria and tenseness of "channel flipping", but an every ongoing wash of changing life forms, all-inclusive. It's what you might experience in a lifetime, but yet coming from a system built around the 12 tone music chromatics and through-composed, as the brain perceives life, leaving the improvisation to the listener's imaginative wanderings... |
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"Strike, Light, Puff" (1998) Zephyrwood Music
Earnest G. Woodall uses a wide variety of musical elements to create a collection of twenty compositions that include numerous avantgarde styles. Taking experimentation as his main starting point with musical structures rather than sounds, his exploratory journeys take us into the most intellectual regions of Classical Music, as well as Minimalism, and Concrete Music in its sound collage trends. All this accompanied by brief incursions into structures that remind us of other genres, such as sequencer Space Music to name some of the latter. http://www.amazings.com/ingles.html - Amazing Sounds / Spain |
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"Ergot Brew" (1997) Zephyrwood Music Synthetic compositions with a heavy emphasis on texture. The first few suites are claustrophobic barrages of precise music, full of life and thoughtful energy... The latter pieces are calmer, more melodic arrangements that brought to mind the soundtrack to BladeRunner. Great Production Four Stars at least****" |
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"Legerdemain" (1996) Zephyrwood Music
Woodall has impressive compositional talents and an obvious aptitude for computer technology. This results in some very sophisticated modern synth music with well-integrated elements of Jazz, Modern Classical, and Rock. A comparison with the pared-down Wendy Carlos of Digital Moonscapes is perhaps apt. Like Carlos, Woodall is a real composer who knows how to combine and develop musical elements, And like Carlos, Woodall is willing to access the full range of synth options, from obviously invented sounds to convincing renditions of strings and keyboard instruments. A fine recording. |
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"Abstract Paragraph" (1995) Zephyrwood Music
Quite well composed and carefully heard and the synth voicings are superior; the overall work grows more interesting with repeated listenings. Steps well beyond the average in indie-quality. |
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"GuitarWorks '94" (1994) Creative Alternative
Earnest Woodall has a clean, undistorted tone that contains an underlying current of Cool Jazz. The only effect he uses is a volume control. Woodall is primarily a layered player. He wouldn't sound out of place in a Gary Burton quartet. Definitely one of the better Solo Jazz Guitar recordings I've heard recently. Fact-Sheet Five / USA |
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"Three Worlds" (1992) Daystar Productions
E.Woodall is a remarkable musician and composer based in Huntington, New York whose innovative work straddles the worlds of improvisation and classical structure. Woodall's most recent release, "Three Worlds" is a collection of pieces scored for a variety of configurations that enhance his virtuoso performance. The compositions are lush, often radiant, soundscapes put together with a fine technical ability and, a visionary sensibility. |
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"Mad Man Of 1st Ave" (1991) Daystar Productions
A crisp and clean synthetic music release that was obviously composed and labored over instead of improvised straight to tape. A concept album, but not one that feels it has to rub the concept in your face, and with impeccable music to back it up. Fact-Sheet Five / USA |
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"Dirty Water" (1990) Daystar Productions
Woodall has impressive compositional talents and an obvious aptitude for computer technology. This results in some very sophisticated modern synth music with well-integrated elements of Jazz, Modern Classical, and Rock. A comparison with the pared-down Wendy Carlos of Digital Moonscapes is perhaps apt. Like Carlos, Woodall is a real composer who knows how to combine and develop musical elements, And like Carlos, Woodall is willing to access the full range of synth options, from obviously invented sounds to convincing renditions of strings and keyboard instruments. A fine recording. |
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"Alberts Warning" (1989) Daystar Productions
Alberts Warning is subtitled a retrospective view of the 20th century, which, in it's own way isn't a bad claim for this album to make. This is all electronic music, mostly composed by E.Woodall himself, with a little influence from Bach here and there. It's pretty heavy stuff, very effective, more classically oriented as opposed to sounding like Vangelis or Jarre. Side one of this 90 minute tape consists of 12 suites and 2 songs, and but I listen to it all as a whole rather than following the program. There's many different moods, as Woodall alternates from clanking dissonance to sensitive beauty, all of it with a feel of someone who is secure in the craft of composition. Suites 11 & 12 are clever reworking of Bach 2 & 3 part inventions which are quite uplifting. The album ends with an electronic and inspiring redo of Amazing Grace. INSIDER NEWS of St. Louis / USA |
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"House Of Stairs" (1988) Daystar Productions
Woodall has taken the potential of electronic orchestration and his own clever guitar styles and combined them into a musical vision akin to the best realms of fantasy writings. Sometimes the music has a grandiose symphonic quality alive with the quality and beauty of Stravinsky. OPTION / USA |
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"Haute Monde " (1987) Daystar Productions
Woodall uses technology to augment his violin and piano work with overdubs and electronic sounds which disturb and mesmerize. Love the acoustic trumpet, the car blowing up, the church organ, and the choir. He has a handle on the emotional responses that these sounds conjure up. Oh yeah, this guy's out there. Home & Studio Recording / USA |
Zephyrwood Music / PO Box 1227 / East Northport / NY 11731
Film Music, Advertising Music, Television Music, John Barry, Stewart Copeland, Hanns Eisler, Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith, Dave Grusin, Mark Isham, Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini, Alan Menken, Randy Newman, Sherman Brothers, Dmitri Shostakovich, Alan Silvestri, Franz Waxman, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Steve Riech, John Adams, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Miles Davis, John Cage, Eno, Robert Fripp, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, Enigma, Moby, Tangerine Dream, Glass, Reich, Bartok, Miles, Monk, Coleman