Crossing the Line

Crossing the Line was a really pleasant surprise.

When I saw "new age" and "piano", I had visions of John Tesh and tepid dinner party music, designed just to float unobrusively in the background without distracting the guests or interferring with the conversation.

The feeling of impending doom grew stronger as I noticed that Polito actually listed Tesh as one of the notable artists he'd played with. So I sat down and steeled myself for an hour of boredom as I listened to a CD of elevator music.

Instead, I discovered a bold, forceful new artist who has the ability to blend piano, saxophone, trombone, cello, violin, drums and guitar into a rich tapestry of sounds and styles that is anything but bland.
The musical styles vary from classical piano/cello duets to sizzling Latin dance rhythms and contempory jazz. There are moments that make you want to get up and dance and hauntingly lovely moments that leave you lost in reverie.

It helped that a thunderstorm was moving up outside and I could watch the lightning flicker on the horizon as Polito's lush instrumentation and strongly plotted melodies carry me away. This really is an instrumental album that has to be listened to, concentrated upon and appreciated for itself rather than just used to mask the silence of your house when you're home alone.

It's genuinely difficult to believe this is Polito's debut album. The sound quality, composition and skill displayed here is much more polished than that of many professionals.

Then again, the CD was recorded in Frank Zappa's private studio and all the musicans involved have had long careers as studion sidemen. Polito himself is co-owner of Auto Mechanics, a Los Angeles based music engineering company which cleans up the fidelity of recordings for bands such as Zappa as well as television shows like the Simpsons and films such as Lady and Tramp and Snow White.

If nothing else, Polito has a finely honed understanding of sound. I was particularly amused that the review copy of the CD came with a packet of CD cleaning cloths and instructions on how to use them.

Over all, this is the album I'd recommend to anyone looking for a good piano instrumental CD for their collection. The only downside might be that it will spoil you for everyone else.

You can listen to clips from Crossing the Line at Amazon.com.