One of the lost talents in these days of musical over specialization is the “singer/songwriter”, back in the 1970s, there was a surfeit if them, you could throw a rock from the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights and invariably hit one walking along the streets. Now they’re as rare as an honest politician.
Thus enters Louis Rosen, ready to fill that void with an intriguing collection of originals. He also plays guitar to accompany his Michael Franks-ish easy toned voice. But the enjoyable part of this album is that Rosen frames his lyrics around arrangements that include strings, with violin (Max Moston) and cello (Anja Wood) as well as woodwinds featuring flute (Susan Rotholz), clarinet/bass clarinet (Andrew Sterman), trumpet (CJ Camerieri), sax (Bruce Williamson and even French Horn (Zohar Schondorf). Teamed with a rhythm section of Dick Sarpola/b and Gary Seligson/dr, Rosen weaves his songs into a tapestry the is reminiscent of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, combining almost free flowing yet poignant thoughts with a lithe mix of swing and folk minstrel.
There’s a gentle sway to pieces like “Prisoner of Hope and Desire” with guest guitarist David Mansfield adding guitar to the casual charm of “The Day After Christmas Day” and joining with Moston’s violin on the laid back “Not For The Faint Of Heart”. Rosen comes across like a troubadour with his messages, but he frames them in Raphaelesque shades, as Sterman’s clarinet brings a balm to the dramatic “Notre Dame Is Burning” or Woods’ bowed cello frames Rosen’s story on “Dinnertime At Jimmy’s” and the reflective “He’d Rather Not Think About Her”.
There’s even a dash of a Nashville skyline during the Cumberland gapped “A Hole at the Edge of Time”, and droplets of guitar dew are assuaged by Rotholz’s flute during “Tender Eyes”. Kind of a mix of vintage Shawn Phillips, John Sebastian and Kenny Rankin, mellow in the good sense and fervent in the even better sense. A new minstrel of the dawn .
https://louisrosencom.bandzoogle.com/love-and-ashes