John Balint: Reviews

Congratulations on a truly wonderful release!! Beautiful songs and singing, inspiring lyrics, great arrangements and crystal clear production!! What else can a listener ask for? If your goal was to uplift our hearts, well, you have done it. Thanks!

Connected is a beautiful trip through many different scenes and emotions. I love the way each song is totally different from the last, but all together paint such a beautiful picture. A beautiful combination of sounds that each tell a different story...together they are incredible. Thanks for sharing your gift!

Balint has created a dreamscape of “New Age” musical fusion, inflecting the richness of his soul into every note. The music reverberates with clarity and purpose, reaching deep to explore a profound sense of feeling, beauty and imagination. Balint has literally laid his soul on the line to express an air of immediacy, moment to moment, extending his Spirit into infinity, only to redefine the moment once again.

(Five Stars) The only reason I even listened to Connected was a recommendation by CD Baby. And I must say THANK YOU! I'm both a jazz and new age fan, and this album fills the bill. The music is fresh and original. More of his albums will be in my collection soon.

Paradise Within is a great album! One of the things that distinguishes it is how self-assured it is. By that I mean pianist/keyboardist John Balint is completely at ease with numerous shifts in mood, texture, or compositional styles, mixing breezy jazzy numbers with tropical island/world fusion pieces and more radio-friendly adult contemporary instrumental tracks. All of the music on the album is exceedingly well-recorded, featuring much better than average (to say the least) electronic keyboard work. In fact, truth be told, this recording is indistinguishable from many “big label” CDs I have heard in a long time - not just in the engineering and instrumentation (superb sounding synths and keys) but also in the sheer musical talent - performing and composing - exhibited by the artist.

From the very attractive presentation (excellent cover artwork as well as liner notes that reveal a lot about the artist) to the immediately accessible music on the disc itself, Paradise Within represents a solid effort (and debut) from a pianist and keyboardist who should have a bright future in the field of adult contemporary music. Highly recommended to fans of breezy, melodic keyboard music everywhere.

John Balint’s latest CD is an airy mixture of rhythm, melody and  atmospheric orchestration. Unlike a lot of new age music which is so boring and yawny , Balint’s compositions are stronger and more melodic than most. This is a CD you want to sit down and put on when you need a break from the world. Its light ambience will lift the cares of the everyday world from your brow, transporting you temporarily to a place of calm and peace. The music allows you to focus on yourself and release your inner energy. I’ll be listening to this one when I’m caught in the rush-hour snarl coming home from work.

“Lullaby” is one of the most spectacular pieces on this disc. According to the liner notes, John has “combined phrases of sampled African singing and chanting, with crickets from the Nile River Valley, and a synthesized Japanese Koto.” It is a heady blend, and one which fits, although the combined pieces come from such a distance apart. The crickets pull at memories of summer nights, the singing and chanting is soothing, and the Koto enriches the entire piece.

I find John’s disc to be more intense than most “ambient” discs I have heard. There is a feeling of life involved here, it isn’t focused entirely on relaxation, and that gives it a new and reflective sound. If you like to let your music take you places, or you are into meditating, or just being in the “here and now” then this disc is one which I believe you will come to treasure. Allow yourself to be lost in something uniquely captivating and enriching.

Like all good prayer, [Paradise Within] is an album more to be felt than explained. “My discovery of the paradise within continues,” says John. “Every day I find new reasons for giving thanks.” That certainly shows. It recalls the old expression: if you want others to love you, love yourself first. (excerpt)

Balint invites the listener to experience the paradise that is within each one of us when we just stop and savor the moment. He uses the keyboards to combine a variety of sounds that would not normally be heard in the same place at the same time, like African chants and Japanese koto. What he does that makes his arrangements so appealing is to space them out and let them breathe. Where other composers might offer layered, dense textures, Balint leads the listener along this incredible sonic buffet. The pleasure of listening to Paradise Within is that Balint’s melodies are smooth and relaxing, and as you listen, you can appreciate the gentle transitions, the beautiful moments that sparkle like the sun on the calm ocean, allowing time for reflection.

This highly creative and involved CD will turn your ears around. Title alone may have you thinking that it’s another piece of ‘new age’ trivia—but it delves much deeper than that, and you will find it enchanting from the opening bar! Yes, it is “meditative”, and Balint does use (some) traditional keyboard forms...but his skill at weaving haunting little instrumental and vocal enchantments through the mix is apparent immediately. He is also very sensitive to “playing for the moment,” and though these are composed pieces, I have no doubt (from listening through and through the album) that the majority of these are first takes. Is it jazz? It leans that way, but there are so many other influences that you couldn’t pigeonhole it that strictly. Is it contemporary? Well, it’s very accessible, so I suppose you would put a big plus sign as your answer. What it really is—highly original and creative music that merits (without a moment’s hesitation) our MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating. This will be in our racks for many years to come!

Right-brained keyboard ace John Balint knows how to deliver the goods. Listeners will be highly rewarded and taken somewhere else. Where? This lovely set brings you into the moment, and is for the mind as well as the ear. Well done.

John Balint’s Paradise Within showcases memorably beautiful music representing a variety of New Age, contemporary instrumental and world music styles. John is a master of piano, synthesizer, percussion, and voice in this highly recommended CD album of original music.

It sets the mood for the total sensual experience. My clients love this disc.

I felt a little guilty when I picked up John Balint’s Paradise Within. I knew there was no way the music on the CD could live up to the cover photo. I dream of thunderstorms over Balinese beaches.

Then I learned Balint took the photo himself.

The multitalented composer/photographer/artist/writer has accomplished a lot since graduating college the year after I did. He’s published a book on desktop publishing, written soundtracks for educational films and, of course, developed a unique style of composing music.

In spite of the unconventionality of his instrumentation, Balint still manages to provide a smooth calm sea of music. The listener finds himself loosing track of the different voices involved and becoming lost in the moment.

That, Balint says, is the whole idea.

“I’ve also exercise restraint,” he says. “The arrangements are spacious because I want the music to breathe, befitting songs about ‘the space of now’.”

Balint adds the album arose from his own discovery of meditation. As he became familiar with the “one-pointed attention” which is the basic practice used to seek inner peace in so many traditions, Balint began to realize there was a place for this idea in his music. We create our own realities from moment to moment through careful attention to our thoughts, words and deeds, thus we are able to create the life of our choosing.

“One way or another,” Balint says, “each song relates to the idea of being in the moment.”