One

As a title, One principally represents the body-mind-spirit cohesion aspired to in keyboardist Mark Ciaburri’s slowly unfolding journey toward a state of sublime relaxation. It may also serve as a small pun, indicating the number of tracks found on this disc (and the number of recordings in this newcomer’s discography). One is a nearly 67-minute, multi-instrumental bliss-out that also could have been appropriately titled Meditation Jam. First, Ciaburri electronically establishes the recording’s underpinnings, a warm, gently glowing soundscape that hovers near the fringes of deep space. He then allows a host of accompanists — most prominently Bruce BecVar on acoustic guitar, plus others on cello, harp, oboe, English horn, flute, tabla, and voice — to add contemporary textures and benign, slow- motion abstractions, all with the intent of creating a sanctuary of sustained restfulness. It succeeds on most counts, though at times the disc seems busy, with instruments too often overlapping or crowding one another for prominence. Offering a little more openness, by extending spaces between notes or taking a more spare approach to instrumentation, might have turned a very good recording into a great one. Ciaburri’s subtle use of voices (created by The Angels Choir of Maui,a nod to where the disc was recorded) is particularly attractive. Massage and yoga enthusiasts, take note.