East Wind,
Timothy Cooper's second album of solo piano music, is, he says, a reflection on the Far East, in which he has traveled extensively. This is not to say, however, that the compositions reveal Asian musical influences in any way.
Cooper's is a Western sensibility when it comes to tonality, harmony, and references, and he is not interested in making music that sounds Eastern. The effect is more indirect, which is to say that, while the composer/pianist himself may have drawn inspiration from his impressions of Asia, the listener, especially without knowledge of his intentions, may not draw the same conclusions as to the music's antecedents.
Cooper may call individual tracks "Asian Rain" or "Bamboo Forest," but they are no more necessarily suggestive of such things than if they had been called "No. 1" and "No. 2." They are, as with much new age piano music, slow and contemplative, and generally short. This is an album of 30 tracks that runs less than an hour, so for the most part,
Cooper is getting in, stating his musical themes, and getting out. This is especially true early on; generally speaking, the tracks get longer and more developed as the disc goes on, to the point that, for instance, "Dawn of Time" runs more than four-and-a-half minutes. Fans who enjoyed
Cooper's first album,
Light on the Water, or who like new age piano music by others, will appreciate
East Wind, probably finding it more restrained than many similar recordings. ~ William Ruhlmann