Earth Stories

Earth Stories
Studio album by Cyrus Chestnut
Released	1996
Genre	Jazz
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Yves Beauvais, Cyrus Chestnut
Cyrus Chestnut chronology
Dark Before the Dawn (1994) Earth Stories (1996) Blessed Quietness (1996)

Earth Stories is an album by the American musician Cyrus Chestnut, released in 1996. ^{[1] [2]} It is dedicated to his grandmother. ^[3] Chestnut supported the album with a North American tour. ^[4] Earth Stories was a success on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart. ^[5]

Production

The album was produced by Yves Beauvais and Chestnut. ^[6] Chestnut had originally envisioned a sextet recording before deciding that he wanted to be the prime mover of the music. ^{[7] [8]} He was backed by Alvester Garnett on drums and Steve Kirby on bass. ^[9] He wrote nine of the album's 11 songs. ^[10] Chestnut felt that the songs, in their different styles, were reflective of his personal history and his interest in the blues. ^{[11] [12]} He labeled "Cooldaddy's Perspective" "acoustic funk"; the horn section on the song included the saxophonists Steve Carrington and Antonio Hart and the trumpeter Eddie Allen. ^{[13] [6]} "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" includes a phrase from Barry Harris's "Nascimento". ^[14] "Nutman's Invention #1" is played in a ragtime style. ^[15] "In the Garden" is a version of the traditional spiritual. ^[16]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[17]
The Buffalo News	[18]
Fort Worth Star-Telegram	[19]
Los Angeles Times	[20]
MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide	[6]
New York Daily News	[21]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[22]
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide	[14]

The Los Angeles Times said that "the pianist plays with a drive that is enriched by his superb command of the keyboard... [he] moves comfortably throughout from simple melody to rhapsodic virtuosity." ^[20] The Globe and Mail called Chestnut "a robust, hard-swinging pianist who gets around the keyboard very handily, though not always with particular finesse." ^[23] The Times Colonist noted that Chestnut's "ballad readings carry a bluesy emotional wallop, and his upbeat compositions are propelled by rhythmically inventive, texturally sublime keyboard offerings." ^[16] The New York Times stated that "Chestnut is after swing, the thrill of improvisation and blues tonality." ^[12] The Washington Post deemed Earth Stories "the year's best jazz instrumental album". ^[24]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Decision, Decisions"
2.	"Grandma's Blues"
3.	"My Song in the Night"
4.	"Nutman's Invention #1"
5.	"Blues from the East"
6.	"Cooldaddy's Perspective"
7.	"Maria's Folly"
8.	"East of the Sun and West of the Moon"
9.	"Gomez"
10.	"Whoopi"
11.	"In the Garden"

References

1. Norment, Lynn (June 1996). "Sounding Off". Ebony. Vol. 51, no. 8. p. 20.
2. Giddins, Gary (2004). Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century. Oxford University Press. p. 572.
3. Andrews, Marke (June 27, 1996). "Cyrus Chestnut Earth Stories". The Vancouver Sun. p. D8.
4. Ellerbe, Gary M. (April 13, 1996). "All That Jazz". Afro-American Red Star. p. B5.
5. "Top Jazz Albums". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 18. May 4, 1996. p. 35.
6. MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1998. p. 227.
7. Thompson, M. Dion (July 19, 1996). "Jazzman refuses to repeat himself". The Baltimore Sun. p. 1E.
8. Blangger, Tim (October 4, 1997). "Three Is the Magic Number for Pianist Cyrus Chestnut". The Morning Call. p. A39.
9. Smith, Will (May 5, 1996). "Jazz Sounds". Entertainment. Omaha World-Herald. p. 10.
10. Chapman, Geoff (April 13, 1996). "Jazz". Toronto Star. p. H2.
11. Lloyd, Jack (April 19, 1996). "Pianist's Music Is Shaped by His Gospel Roots". Features Weekend. The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 30.
12. Watrous, Peter (April 23, 1996). "Capturing the Vitality of Live Jazz". The New York Times. p. C13.
13. Hunter Jr., Al (April 19, 1996). "He Found Jazz a Spiritual Awakening". Features Yo!. Philadelphia Daily News. p. 51.
14. The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide. Random House. 1999. p. 144.
15. Lima, OJ (September 1996). "Revolutions". Vibe. Vol. 4, no. 7. p. 208.
16. Blake, Joseph (April 20, 1996). "Sound Advice". Entertainment. Times Colonist. p. 1.
17. "Earth Stories Review by Ken Dryden". AllMusic. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
18. Simon, Jeff (April 19, 1996). "Jazz". Gusto. The Buffalo News. p. 29.
19. Shull, Chris (May 31, 1996). "Jazz". Star Time. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 14.
20. Heckman, Don (March 31, 1996). "Jazz". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 72.
21. Santoro, Gene (May 14, 1996). "Record Reviews". Daily News. p. 38.
22. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. Penguin Books. 2008. p. 246.
23. Miller, Mark (April 13, 1996). "Earth Stories". The Globe and Mail. p. C7.
24. "Best of '96: Music". Weekend. The Washington Post. December 27, 1996. p. 7.