Sketches

AMG Review of Sketches

Jared Johnson
All Music Guide

Bestor creates his own magnum opus while sketching musical masterpieces from some of humankind's greatest contributors. The dated drawings of a famed inventor inspired this work. From the liner notes: "As I sipped my complimentary beverage with 200 other passengers on our luxury liner, perusing a book about Leonardo DaVinci, it suddenly occurred to me that I was sitting in the realization of his sketched dream of a flying machine." "From Leonardo's Sketchbook" then captures that age of discovery and the light of Leonardo's mind. Each song, in turn, takes the listener on a journey similar to the diversity of Bestor's Innovators album. He scales the Grand Canyon with you, sits along Walden Pond, swoops you through Native American tribal lands, and plants you back in the Italian Renaissance with a full spectrum of styles and instruments. Musically, "Expedition," "A Romance With Electrons," and "Mama, Don't You Weep" offer the most enjoyable rides. The album will inevitably drift your thoughts to your possible contributions in a world that constantly gets tipped by new ideas.