Sangria CD Reviews

The album “Sangria” isn’t just a collection of Mariah Parker’s (piano and santur) original compositions. This is music-prayer, music-meditation. A wonderful company of first class musicians have been gathered to record this project. All of them deserve to be mentioned. Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard and flamenco guitars), Mindia Devi Klein […]

Little question that this issue will be chock-full of inspiring music… the packages I received from the Ancient Future (Matthew Montfort) and Facing East (John Wubbenhorst) labels alone had true gems for fans of world/jazz/fusion in them.  I still haven’t quite figured out Mariah’s reason for titling this CD as […]

A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange by Mark S. Tucker (progdawg@hotmail.com). I’m one of the few critics who has been singing the praises of the chamber World group Oregon for decades now, an ensemble composing the true genesis of refined world jazz music. That’s the main […]

“…this is an excellent album from pianist Mariah Parker, whose work is best described as world jazz. Parker brings a wide variety of influences to Sangria, ranging from Indian and Middle Eastern music to Afro-Cuban salsa and Brazilian samba. Parker obviously appreciates the Eastern-influenced spirituality and mysticism of John Coltrane, […]

CD Review: ‘Sangria’ Bubbles with Rhythm The CD cover describes the musical content as, “An Indo Latin Jazz Musical Experience”. That is probably a pretty good summation of Mariah Parker’s debut release, Sangria, which is Spanish for ‘bloody’. Notably, ‘sangria’ is usually referred to as a red wine. In that […]

When a CD is titled Sangria, one automatically assumes that there is going to be a strong Spanish influence. Sangria wine, after all, is as quintessentially Spanish as flamenco, bullfights, paella, the Prado Museum, Pedro Almodóvar films, and scorching heatwaves in Sevilla. But the Spanish influence isn’t as strong on […]

To heat things up on Valentine’s Day, consider adding a little sangria to the menu – and your iTunes playlist. Sweet and juicy, and leaving you with a warm glow, Sangria is a melodic mix blending Latin jazz and East Indian music. This brand-new recording features original compositions by Mariah […]

This collection of eight original instrumentals by Mariah Parker is just one of many examples of the infusion of East Indian music into Western music, but to my ears one of the most successful.  There are also influences of Spanish folk, flamenco, Afro-Cuban and Persian music.  Indian tablas and bansuri […]

“…Parker kicks off her solo career with a well textured world beat date that finds her multi-instrumentalist abilities and her wide open ears leading the way.  There’s nothing but pros on board here who know what to do and they do it in a lively, spontaneous fashion that really grabs […]

This 49-minute album is recommended for fans of world music (“Waterwheel”, “Sangria”, “Tenth Journey”) and jazz (“First Flight”, almost like Weather Report, “Between the Lines”, with a soft touch and a beautiful piano solo, “Debajo de la Lluvia”, which is Spanish for “Under the Rain”, and “Milo’s Moment”, both with […]