LOS ANGELES, CA. (Top40 Charts/
Orange Band Records) - Ann Sweeten, a classically-trained composer, pianist, arranger and producer who has crafted a signature sound over the course of her decade-long recording career, is releasing her seventh album, "Grey Sky and Bittersweet," on October 9, 2007. A purely acoustic album produced by Windham Hill Records founder Will Ackerman, "Grey Sky and Bittersweet" is a haunting meditationon the passage of time, and on the crossroads at which Sweeten finds herself. "This album represents a turning point in my professionallife for a host of reasons," she says. "I have discovered new levels and a much heightened nuance in both composition and performance."
Sweeten's previous albums are among the most-played instrumental works in recent years, landing near the top of the New Age Reporter's radio charts.
"Ann Sweeten is a remarkable talent," says Ackerman. "A musician whose extensive classical training is immediately apparent, she is also someone who writes from a great emotional depth. As her producer, it is a joy to hear someone who exploits the entire potential of the piano ... ."
Sweeten's debut album, "Prism," was released in 1997 on her own Orange Band Records label. It was followed by "Passage," "Reflections," "Christmas Presence," "Sapphire Days" and "A Place in the Sun." She was nominated for Best Instrumental Album-Piano and Best Cover Art by the 2006 New Age Reporter Lifestyle Music Awards, and for Best Neo-Classical Album and Best Cover Art at the same awards in 2004. Sweeten is also a professional actress and singer, a trained ballet dancer, and a staunch environmentalist and animal rights activist.
"Grey Sky and Bittersweet" was composed and performed by Ann Sweeten, with help from an impressive array of guest musicians: Ackerman on acoustic guitar, Hopi drum and rainsticks; Eugene Friesen on cello; Jill Haley on oboe; John Huling on Native American flutes; Jeff Oster on flugelhorn; T. Bone Wolk on upright bass; and Noah Wilding on vocals. It was engineered, mixed and mastered by Corin Nelsen at Imaginary Road Studios in Windham County, Vermont.
