Posts Tagged ‘Royce Campbell’
The acclaimed Jazz producer, composer, and performer Royce Campbell has released a New Age music project on the Moon Cycle Records label titled, Ear of the Beholder. While over 30 Jazz albums can be found titled under his name as lead or co-lead, the artist title Eucalyptus Dream is what you should look for when shopping in the New Age music section.
This is a first for Royce Campbell who honored a request from his friends in the medical and healing profession to provide some music for people to relax with during their patient therapy sessions.
This is quite a change of pace for Royce considering that during his 35 year career as a musician he has toured with the likes of Marvin Gaye, while also touring 19 years with award winning film composer and musician Henry Mancini.
The large number of legendary Jazz musicians he has performed with is just too numerous to list. Knowing his professional profile and having performed with this vast amount of talent from another genres, we gladly welcome Royce with open arms and can now proudly claim him as an honorary New Age artist.
Royce Campbell’s credits as a Jazz musician list 11 albums on U.S. Nationwide charts, with 4 in the top 10. With so much experience and success in Jazz, this leap into New Age music might be difficult for some people.
For Royce Campbell this apparently is not the case here since those 35 years of experience and a broad music career have obviously eased that transition. Royce explains a focus on the composing aspects, rather than just performing as a guitar soloist was the right approach with this change in genre album.
The Ear of the Beholder by Eucalyptus Dream is a debut where it is pretty clear Royce Campbell takes New Age music just as seriously as when performing in his familiar Jazz style.
Multiple influences abound while a landscape of picturesque thoughts rise to the surface, allowing the listener to relax and take in Royce Campbell’s style at their own pace sometimes with, but mostly without his usual guitar. The result of this daring transition is a successful leap into New Age.
This first album by Eucalyptus Dream is great in the fact that the music is truly New Age, having synthesized ambient rhythms, guitar, flute, choral vocals and some great percussion effects that are composed without the repetitiveness found in some music of all genres. Much of the album blends Western, Eastern and modern influences in a nicely composed ambient blend, easily surpassing the request of relaxing music his friends in the medical profession were looking for, and so much more.
It is unknown to me whether the artist title Eucalyptus Dream was chosen because of the abundant medical uses scientist’s have discovered in the more than 700 Eucalyptus tree and plant species. Perhaps that is the reason since the therapeutic dose of relaxation qualities found on this album are safe, reliable and effective, which does support that possibility.
His music website is roycecampbell.com – Sample the album on CDBaby
Picture copyright Bigstockphoto.com – ozflash.