Murray A. Lightburn – Once Upon a Time In Montreal

Murray A. Lightburn of The Dears has channeled the loss of his father into the smooth, emotional jazz of 'Once Upon a Time In Montreal'....
Murray A. Lightburn : Once Upon a Time In Montreal
8.0 Dangerbird
2023 
Murray A. Lightburn : Once Upon a Time In Montreal

Many people lost many people in 2020, the COVID pandemic striking across the world, but it particularly hit the elderly. Murray A. Lightburn of The Dears lost his father William, who had once given up his own jazz dreams and moved from Belize to Montreal to provide for his family. Lightburn the younger has channeled his feelings into the smooth, emotional jazz of Once Upon a Time In Montreal.

As opposed to jazz that can be daunting or just peppy, Lightburn’s style on Montreal gives the smooth sounds a real heft with his feelings, still trying to sort them all out after his father’s passing. It is most evocative on “Oh But My Heart Has Never Been Dark”, while the title track is his father’s swaying jazz life story. There is also the sweet and grand goodbye with “No New Deaths Today”, followed by the slow homage “In the Kingdom of Heaven”.

At only eight tracks and just over a half-hour, Murray A. Lightburn wisely kept Once Upon a Time In Montreal tight, so that neither the jazz nor the subject felt overplayed. Anyone would be lucky to have a tribute half as beautiful & heartfelt.

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