Ann Sweeten
Touching on genres including new age, classical, jazz, and score composition, Ann Sweeten's gentle, often stirring melodic piano music demonstrates technique as well as emotion. After her first solo recordings appeared in the late '90s, albums such as 2005's A Place in the Sun and 2014's Tapestries of Time raised her profile both on instrumental radio and, later, streaming services, where tracks including the latter album's "Send Me an Angel" garnered millions of plays. Appearing 26 years after her debut LP, 2023's Love Walks Through Rain featured more of her typically sweeping arrangements built from piano and minimal accompaniment such as strings, solo flute, and acoustic guitar.
A performer from a young age, Sweeten was gifted a Hammond organ at the age of six (she had to stand to reach the pedals), the same year she began ballet classes in her hometown of Westfield, New Jersey. When she was nine, she got a Baldwin piano and began to study with concert pianist David Sokoloff, whom she cites as her most influential mentor. Sweeten continued to study both music and ballet into her teens, and eventually earned a Bachelor of Arts in languages from Smith College in Massachusetts. She fronted the pop/rock band FALLOUT for two years, then attended the Boston Conservatory, where she brushed up on skills related to musical theater including acting, singing, and dance. She went on to find work as a singer and pianist in places like clubs, restaurants, and resorts, and pursued roles in musical theater, appearing in shows like Chicago and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. In the meantime, she began composing her own music in 1989.
Starting with 1997's Prism, Sweeten began releasing recordings of her performances of her own contemporary instrumental compositions on her own label, Orange Band Records. Following 1998's Passage, she had some moderate instrumental radio hits in North America with a string of albums including 2000's Reflections, the next year's Christmas Presence, and 2002's Sapphire Days. Besides continuing her radio success, her sixth album, 2005's A Place in the Sun, would rack up significant streaming numbers for years to come with its rousing, wistful piano melodies sometimes backed by light strings and, on rarer occasions, by instruments like solo flute. During this time, Sweeten began her run as an ASCAP Popular Award recipient, winning her first in 2002 and then annually through 2014 (though her consecutive streak was broken, she went on to collect the award several more times). Her further collections during this stretch included 2007's Grey Sky and Bittersweet and 2009's Just This Side of Spring. Released in 2011, In the Wake was her third straight album to be produced or co-produced by guitarist Will Ackerman, who rejoined her for 2014's Tapestries of Time and 2016's Where Butterflies Dance. Sweeten also released a concert album, Live at the St. George, in 2014.
Composed and performed by Sweeten on a Steinway Grand Model B, 2017's Flying Solo Silhouette was also co-produced with Ackerman, as was 2019's Before Today, Beyond Tomorrow, which found her joined by additional instruments like soprano saxophone and English horn, and featured synthesizer on two tracks. Its title referred to a leukemia diagnosis received during the album's conception. The similarly orchestrated Change Is in the Wind followed in 2021, and Love Walks Through Rain arrived on Orange Band in 2023 and again featured Ackerman.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo
Diskografie
15 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
-
Love Walks Through Rain
New Age - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 09.06.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prism
New Age - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 01.01.1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Where Butterflies Dance
Klassik - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 01.05.2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Christmas Presence
Klassik - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 01.01.2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tapestries of Time
New Age - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 14.02.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Passage
Entspannung - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 01.01.1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grey Sky And Bittersweet
New Age - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 01.01.2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Place in the Sun
Klassik - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 01.01.2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Just This Side of Spring
New Age - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 21.11.2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Flying Solo Silhouette
Klassik - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 04.08.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Before Today, Beyond Tomorrow
New Age - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 10.05.2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sapphire Days
New Age - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 01.01.2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Reflections
Klassik - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 01.01.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Change Is in the Wind
New Age - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 03.09.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In the Wake
Klassik - Erschienen bei Orange Band Records am 28.11.2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo