Tim Brumfield plays for Winter Solstice at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

This was recorded live at the Winter Solstice Celebration on December 18, 2009, at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, NYC. Tim, a member of The Paul Winter Consort and former Cathedral Organist, played an improvisation to begin the second half of the show, choosing the themes "Here We Come a Wassailing" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" . By the end of the piece he had both themes moving along in perfect sync. Tim was waiting for a cue from the stage director to let him know when to fade into the first number with the Consort, which is why he kept glancing over his shoulder. I usually shoot video of Tim at the Cathedral out in the crossing (or further back), in order to pick up the best audio balance. I thought for this recording, however, It might make a nice change to film up in the organ loft. I'm glad I did; I think being able to watch Tim up close at the console as his improvisation unfolded was well worth the trade-off of any minimal audio imbalance caused by filming directly under the Great Division. Enjoy!

Tim served at Saint John the Divine as Associate Organist from 1997-2002 and as Cathedral Organist from 2002-2009.

Please visit Tim's website at: http://www.timbrumfield.com/
Tim is managed by Brumfield & Associates: http://www.brumfieldassociates.com/

Category:

Music

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• Christmas
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[JFSnail]

Fantastic improv, love to hear more from Mr Brumfield. To be able to improvise whilst waiting for a cue from elsewhere is a very special skill. Remarkable.

[Christopher050164]

This is pure GENIUS at work. I love the trilling and the paprika smock!

[adzeuph5]

a master at work if you ask me! such skill and talent... i could never play like that! spose it comes easy to him haha :)

[danielwh1881]

pure Awesome!!!

[kphag]

We had Tim as musical director and organist at our Saint Peter's Church Christmas Eve service this year (well, December 2010), and I have to say, his playing was just wonderful. What he was doing at the organ while we were singing a psalm in monotone was just such an ethereal experience. Great stuff, great musician.

[tkotkotko2000]

Tim Brumfield is one of the most prolific musicians that I have heard in very long time. I just attended the 2010 Winter Solstice concert by Paul Winter where again Tim’s amazing ability to work as an member of an ensemble or solo never ceases to thrill me! He is a true musician in very respect of the word. I had the great pleasure to work with Tim before and truly hope I will get to again soon. Great Job Tim!!!!

[pohsiBRD]

God has truly bestowed the gift of music making upon him! Divine!

[MsPysanky]

Goosebumps. Just love this improv. I wish it could be cleaned of the background noise. Would love to have this as an MP3. So uplifting.

[dolphinlover49]

Glad you all like Tim! Went to high school with him, and he was soooo talented back then! He composed a song called A Place Called Old Kentucky. It's on you tube, so check it out!

[Your1Advocate]

Such a talent! I hope he never lets it go to waste.

Unfortunately Tim is no longer at the Intercession but still playing to the glory of God.

[Vergergc]

And half the time he's not looking at what he's doing on the manuals, combinations, etc... may as well be wearing a blindfold - AMAZING!!!

[kphag]

This is ridiculous; organ players passing themselves off as human. It is obvious to the most casual observer that no human could play this, because it takes a brain for each hand and foot, so I guess he's got 5 brains in there. And to do all of this, with a musically interesting challenging improvisation like this, while (as JFSnail pointed out) being mindful of an imminent segue into something else, it's totally remarkable and wonderful. Human or not, a marvelous musician. :)