Nightfall

Cornell Kinderknecht's CD, Nightfall, is a tour through the magical musical world of flutes: Native American, Bansuri, Anasazi, bamboo, ocarina, and Irish whistle. Kinderknecht handles each of these with confident artistry, weaving a variety of both soothing low-key melodies and a few slightly uptempo tunes, accompanied by an assortment of keyboards… While the Native American flute dominates the affair… I wouldn't go so far as to label Nightfall a Native fusion release. It's much closer to classic new age music (one track brings to mind the Micahel Hoppe/Tim Wheater collaboration, The Yearning), at least to my ears. Part of this impression is influenced by how Kinderknecht incorporates his piano and arsenal of electronic keyboards. However, since the Native flute has such a distinctive sound, if Native fusion happens to be a subgenre you enjoy, you'll almost certainly like this album…

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Music That Goes Lightly at Dark

I have never heard a Native American flute played as if it had classical and modern music wings before, but Cornell Kinderknect's new album, Nightfall, has just that feel. It is not so much formal sounding as it is structured…

Nightfall is a time of discovery for the creative mind. Poets, artists and writers seem to sense when the sun goes down and their creative juices begin flow like welcome April rain. For many it is also a time of peace. They take refuge in the night like crickets who sing louder when the stars, blazing like crystal diamonds, fill the darkness with their special magic. Cornell Kinderknecht's flute makes the night that much more secure, soothing and above all, satisfying. I enjoyed every cut.

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Pushing the Boundaries of World Flutes

Review by Amy Martin
www.moonlady.com

Every ethnic tradition has its wind instruments: the spare and breathy Native American flute, the spare and tonal bansuri flute, the spare and enigmatic bamboo flute.

Do you get the idea that a lot of ethnic flute is spare to the point of emptiness? That's what makes Cornell Kinderknecht's flute and whistle artistry such a delight. His is a conversational approach to the flute, with dynamics reflecting of emotional interplay, a tasteful use of electronics and exquisite choice of instruments. Lesser flutists overuse breathiness to convey emotion. Kinderknecht does it with chops.

The double alto ocarina is one such example. Ocarinas, which originate from South America and Mesoamerica, are usually simple clay flutes with a few holes, often made in the shape of animals. Kinderknecht's ocarina has two chambers with separate scales, making a one-person duet possible. It's made of wood, enabling greater precision in the sound. The six-inch long instrument holds its own against a full piano in the bright and expansive duet "Alaska Highway."

Several songs on the CD are flute or whistle with piano accompaniment. I understand the impulse to pair them. Piano easily fills in the spaces that arise in flute compositions. People with short attention spans, and that's most of us folks, tend to wander off in those spaces. Yet there are times I just want to slap the piano silly, particularly in the first half of the CD.

But hang in there, it gets better, lots better. The two instruments balance perfectly in "Santa Fe Sunset" and "Southwest Prelude." At their best keyboards can provide an essential complement, giving shade and tone to the flute melody. Some of the best flute combos on the CD utilize an electronic keyboard, like in "Water" when it evokes water dripping to the depths. It complements the low tone and languid melody of Kinderknecht's unusual Native American flute, almost a yard long and three inches in diameter.

Electronic keyboards come to the fore again paired with an Anazazi flute in "Mystic Heart," providing a perfect texture of light moving across immense mesas and canyons. Keyboards add mystery to the melancholy longing sound of the bansuri flute in "Nightfall" and sound like chimes and harp in "Nocturne," an excellent evocation of falling night with its deepening unknown.

The CD contains outright flute solos like "At the Divide," a standout track that showcases a bamboo flute, often electronically overlaid in an elegant counterpoint. The song evokes the contemplation of choices and the reflective optimism of a new path. "Heart Crossing," with its variety of Native American flutes, showcases Kinderknecht's exceptionally refined and versatile technique.

But it's a selection like "Day's End" with a full band that truly shows Kinderknecht best. He uses a Native American flute in a Latin-flavored song, accented with perfect touches of sandpaper blocks by Frank Lunsford. The slow tango of Kinderknecht's flute with Cynthia Stuart's creative keyboards, modified to sound more like a guitar, is flirted with by Billy Bucher's artful percussion. An imaginative CD of tunes like this could seriously nudge world flutes up there with the saxophone as a pop instrument with a following in New Age and beyond.

~ Amy Martin