Recordings

1. Song
(poem by Christina Rossetti)

Yeats Songs
(poems by William Butler Yeats)
2. Ribh in Ecstasy
3. He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
4. A Coat
5. The Lady's First Song
6. A Drunken Man's Praise of Sobriety

Exhilaration
(poems by Emily Dickinson)
7. Exhilaration is the Breeze
8. It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon -
9. Bee! I'm expecting you!
10. We Cover Thee - Sweet Face -
11. Wild Nights - Wild Nights!
12. What Inn is this
13. I should not dare to leave my friend
14. Still own thee - still thou art -
15. Exhilaration - is within -


16. Lullaby

“This disc of songs by Gregg Kallor, fabulously sung by Adriana Zabala, is packed with lovely and effective music. The language of the music is simple (in a good way), straightforward, and approachable… Well crafted? Definitely. Entertaining? Yes. Well performed? Absolutely. Lyrical? You bet.”
-Jay Batzner, Sequenza21.com

“Gregg Kallor is a splendid writer of songs. You find in his Yeats and Dickinson settings the virtues you look for in songs new or old but rarely find in such abundance: a fine-tuned ear, able writing for the voice, great imagination in piano color and texture, and steady sensitivity to the poetry. Most impressive of all, to my ears anyway, Kallor writes songs in which the voice part is the prime focus, partly because he is a true melodist (a rare quality always, more so in the last fifty years), equally because the vocal lines are distinctive and expressive and closely knit to the harmony. Sensitivity, subtlety, and consistency--these are his kind of qualities, and they’re ones we need. So is beauty, and when you’ve heard Kallor’s songs that’s generally the first word that comes to mind.”
-Jan Swafford, author of “Johannes Brahms: A Biography” and “Charles Ives: A Life With Music”

“Kallor's piano phrases frame Zabala's voice perfectly, weaving around the lyrics, sometimes in unison, other times an echo… On repeated listenings, one notices more than [just the] beauty of the voice and strength of the melodies. Both Zabala and Kallor are emotionally involved with this music.”
-Richard Kamins, The Hartford Courant

“Gregg's harmonic vocabulary has its own identity… [He] has a natural instinct for the balance between the voice and the piano [and] his sense of register for the voice is right on… These are miniature, finely wrought portraits, full of detail, that linger in your memory and point to something larger.”
-Brad Mehldau, pianist and composer

“This album shows the emergence of a truly significant young composer. These songs are full of beauty, fire, pathos, humor and (everywhere) remarkable inventiveness… It's hard to ask more of the modern song-cycle.”
-Herschel Garfein, composer

1. The Voice of Reason
2. On Green Dolphin Street
3. There's A Rhythm
4. Double Down
5. Every Time We Say Goodbye
6. 255
7. Lost
8. So In Love
9. You're My Everything
10. Coral Peak
11. The Last Word
12. 255 (reprise)

“Kallor is a lyrical player whose love for and training in classical music adds depth to his jazz playing and composing. His tone is clear and bright, and he is able to improvise thematically with an overall sense of structure… Kallor can carry a poetic mood right to the edge of sorrow, always sounding lyrical and moving without ever slipping into the lachrymose.” -Owen McNally, The Hartford Courant

“The instrumental voices within Kallor's group have adopted the model of individuality-contained-within-intuitive-unity that some of the more notable piano trios have achieved. Bassist Van Voorst Van Beest, for instance, takes the melodic lead at the start of “The Voice of Reason,” not Kallor, hinting that the overall sound is Kallor's primary objective, rather than a piano showcase…Even though Kallor covers a few standards with deceptively easy precision and a confident touch that illuminate the sometimes overlooked harmonic gems within, his own compositions describe his growing musical personality the best.” -Bill Donaldson, Cadence Magazine