Flutist Bill McBirnie Releases New Music

Reflections (For Paul Horn) is the latest instrumental release from renowned solo and alto flute player Bill McBirnie and crafted as a homage to the well-known multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader Paul Horn. Such albums invariably fall into three camps – artists covering their predecessor’s material, imitations of the subject’s work, or they are original compositions attempting to capture some of the subject’s spirit yet focus equally on the performing artist’s talents. Reflections (For Paul Horn) lands in the third category. McBirnie invokes Horn’s influence throughout the album’s eight tracks but emphatically stamps each one with personal creativity rather than aping Horn’s work. 

His personalized touch is audible from the outset. McBirnie’s production style for these songs is rife with intimate details. We hear him breathing, the recording captures the smallest details of both his solo and alto flute playing, and the light ambiance he drapes over the playing never sounds affected. “Reflections” opens the album in grand style. McBirnie’s improvisational style doesn’t announce itself with fits and starts; if anything, you will scarcely notice as “Reflections” and its successors sound fully arranged.

Fully arranged, however, never means overly rehearsed or otherwise inert. It means that each of the album’s eight performances comes across like McBirnie began playing with a vision in mind for what he wants to accomplish. We hear that during cuts such as “Masada Sunrise”. The spiritual implications behind the title bear fruit in the Middle Eastern overtones running throughout the performance. He follows a steady trajectory, as well, that speaks about how thoroughly McBirnie is “in the moment” with each of these performances. Words fail to describe the steady trajectory that McBirnie follows building pieces such as this.

They don’t fail, however, when describing the pawing playfulness of tracks such as “Kitten & Moth”. This performance works under your skin in increments rather than impressing itself upon listeners with big motifs. It maintains a low-key demeanor throughout its entirety. “Awakening” captures the freshness implied by its title, the sense of waking to face a new day. Along the way, McBirnie treats listeners to his recurring tendency to hold key notes rather than relying on shorter phrases. The promise of discovery and renewal is one of the themes repeatedly rising throughout Reflections and finds one of its most evocative expressions with this track. 

“Monk’s Strut” is a track more immediately accessible than many of its predecessors. This owes far more of a debt to jazzier influences than any of the other seven performances but yet fits in nicely at this slot in the album’s running order. It allows McBirnie to show off his virtuosic tendencies without ever running the risk of overplaying. “Ode to Paul” concludes the album on a salutary note. It’s an affectionate and slowly developed piece that pays direct homage to Horn without ever imitating McBirnie’s illustrious predecessor. Reflections (For Paul Horn) is an eclectic mix of the lively and sedate that even those who normally wouldn’t enjoy such fare will find something of merit in hearing.

Mindy McCall