CDS
Click
here to purchase Dorian's CDs
Memoir (2008)
MEMOIR REVIEW 23rd August 2008
Mode possesses eclectic talents, proved by his hilarious first novel A Café in Venice. This trio album is a companion to his second novel, The Mozart Maulers, which tells the unlikely tale of a Sydney Conservatorium rugby league team. Where the book is comic, however, Mode’s lyrics are pastel-hued observations and gentle confessions. Swirling amid the sensitive playing are musically resourceful songs, overlaid with words containing poignant little stings, which suck you into Mode’s very personal and satisfying vision.
JOHN SHAND - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
|
|
Previous
CDs:
|
|
A
Cafe in Venice (2002)
Stephen
Sondheim has observed that a well-crafted song
is like a one-act-play, with a beginning, middle
and end, and character development. It is an
observation that applies beyond music theatre.
Dorian Mode crafts songs to take the listener
on a journey. They tell old stories of loves
lost and hearts broken, but with individual
quirks of perspective and imagery. It is the
same flair that informs his funny, sad and
metaphysical novel which shares this album's
title, and which incorporates some of the lyrics.
The CD, in turn, includes a reading from the
wittily entitled Alas, that was the Winter
of my Discount Tent chapter, with atmospheric
commentary from Mode's piano and Jason Morphett's
tenor saxophone. There is an uneasy tension
between the melancholy of most of the songs
and the rather neutral crooning style Mode
adopts to sing them. Yet the lyrics keep you
listening, and the arrangements are shrewd,
with stylish solos from Morphett (especially
his soprano on At Midnight and trumpeter Don
Rader. Singer Nicky Crayson duets attractively
with Mode on Out of the Rain, and, beyond the
originals there is a fine reading of Prince's
Sign O' the Times - John Shand, SYDNEY MORNING
HERALD
|
|
Man,
Dig That Groovy Mode (1989)
Dorian
Mode is a fledgling jazz sensation - SUNDAY
TELEGRAPH
Dorian
mode is very, very hip. A great debut album
- DAILY MIRROR
Backed
by a neat little combo, ‘Man, Dig that
Groovy Mode’ is refreshing and should
live up to all expectations - PLAYBOY |
|
Rebirth
of the Cool (1991)
Mode
swings stylishly on Rebirth of the Cool with
songs that conjure up late night moods through
their upbeat melancholy and seductive grooves
- SUNDAY TIMES
Rebirth
of the Cool shares a lot of characteristics
with other jazz artist such as Vince Jones
and Harry Connick Jnr; a sense of heritage
and delivery that is somehow simultaneously
warm yet cool, and the power to fill a room
with a velvet ambience that enshrouds and engulfs.
- ON THE STREET
Cool
album, big impact, from a great artist - SWING
JOURNAL JAPAN
As
the title suggests: cool voice, cool music,
a cool jazz feeling that engulfs you - JAZZ
LIFE JAPAN
His
effortless synthesis of influences and passion
for producing accessible contemporary jazz
belie a great gift - the ability to extend
tradition without trying to impress. He is
simply a natural. This album is class stuff.
- NEW WOMAN MAGAZINE
His
music can be described in one word: stylish!
- AD LIB JAPAN |
|
Cafe
of Broken Dreams (1993)
Dorian
Mode is unquestionably one of Australia’s
great jazz artists; a reputation that is only
enhanced by the release of his third album ‘Cafe
of Broken Dreams’. Simply put, this is
a brilliant effort and heartily welcome. -
SYDNEY NEWS CRITICS CHOICE
A
quality singer who excels on the piano and
organ. - THE BULLETIN
Dorian
Mode was a pianist first till everyone began
hounding him, saying, can you sing? And boy,
can he do both! A great album - THE ADVOCATE
Dorian
Mode is a wonderful artist as a vocalist and
composer and arranger. His originals have a
unique tone of hopeless longing. I could not
help but be absorbed in listening. - SWING
JOURNAL JAPAN
I
was impressed after listening to his latest
album. The complicated harmony used to create
a more sensual sound has made this album not
only vocally but instrumentally appealing.
- AD LIB JAPAN |
|
|
|
|
|
|