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John Pedersen's "When Sun Broke Through"
On October 3, 2000 John Pedersen's then 14 year old son, Ben, was tragically hit by a car and nearly died. After being in an 11 day coma, Ben miraculously awakened. Shortly thereafter, the sun shone brightly through his hospital room from a previously overcast sky. This magical and joyous moment provided the inspiration for John's third album, appropriately entitled, "When Sun Broke Through".
Fans of modern instrumental music will enjoy the upbeat melodies and rich textures as they are skillfully performed on piano, guitar, strings and exotic percussion. From delicate ballads to rousing jazz-rock, solo piano to atmospheric electronica-this CD has something for everyone and will certainly not disappoint.
A review in "Instrumental Weekly" magazine in 2002 said, "The music on this album is without a doubt a testament to the human spirit, and how each of us must face the dark now and again, and simply hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Fortunately for John and his family, that light must have shone bright indeed...With piano, acoustic guitar, a whole host of percussion programming and plenty of bright synth work, When Sun Broke Through has a very "now" sound that is hard to ignore. Featuring friendly melodies set to washes of simple synthesizer, this recording definitely has a boatload of highly accessible music. John Pedersen had the courage to put his feelings into music and share it with the world...to be a part of that, all you have to do is listen".
Bill Binkelman wrote the following in a "Wind and Wire" Magazine review from 2002: "...John Pedersen's third album, while retaining the artist's likable and warm melodic compositional style veers solidly and confidently into adult contempoary music territory. "When Sun Broke Through" is hugely enjoyable collection of tunes. Peppered with a variety of styles, moods and tempos, the songs on the CD still have that "Pedersen" feel to them...While striking out in some new musical directions, it also demonstrates a further maturation of this artist's talent."
Back at the time of its release in 2002, "When Sun Broke Through" charted at an astounding #14 on The New Age Reporter Top 100. But even now in early 2009, this album is receiving numerous downloads on iTunes. The experimental drum and bass tune, "Out of this World", was receiving radio airplay on KCCK as recently as April 2007, as well as on the Digi-Tube Podcast in May 2008. Also in 2009, "New Horizons" started receiving airplay on the Live365 internet broadcasts "Generally Gentle Radio" and "New Age Stars". Even today, the album is getting a lot of attention on iTunes, Amazon.com and Spotify.
This album is an uplifting look at a difficult time in John Pedersen's life. But it has a happy ending. John's son Ben has recovered fully from the accident and graduated from high school and even learned to play the guitar since then. The music from this album has even been featured in several TV shows about San Diego's Children's Hospital where Ben was a patient. Stories about Ben's recovery were aired on all of the local news broadcasts and newspapers.
In the Spring of 2002, John performed a number of songs from this album at the Kit Carson Park Amphitheater in Escondido, CA. The response was positive as indicated by the generous CD sales afterward. Future John Pedersen performances also included songs from this special project, including the 2006 mall concerts in the San Diego area. In fact, John was so fond of the song "New Horizons" that he put an acoustic version of it on his release, "Groovidi", as part of the medley called, "Afterthoughts". Also, the beautiful piano ballad "Forever" was included in a medley on the "Paradise" album entitled, "Themes of Love". Tunes from this album were also performed by John at performances in 2007, 2008 and 2018.
For this recording, John used the Emu Proformance Piano Module, the Alesis Nano Synth, Alsesis Nano Bass, Korg X3 and a Roland JV-1010 sound module.
After listening to the audio clips, be sure to purchase a copy of this CD and sit back and enjoy the ride! You can also download either the entire album or just individual tracks from iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. Free streaming is available at Spotify and Pandora. Also, YouTube has all of John's catalog available for free listening.
Fans of modern instrumental music will enjoy the upbeat melodies and rich textures as they are skillfully performed on piano, guitar, strings and exotic percussion. From delicate ballads to rousing jazz-rock, solo piano to atmospheric electronica-this CD has something for everyone and will certainly not disappoint.
A review in "Instrumental Weekly" magazine in 2002 said, "The music on this album is without a doubt a testament to the human spirit, and how each of us must face the dark now and again, and simply hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Fortunately for John and his family, that light must have shone bright indeed...With piano, acoustic guitar, a whole host of percussion programming and plenty of bright synth work, When Sun Broke Through has a very "now" sound that is hard to ignore. Featuring friendly melodies set to washes of simple synthesizer, this recording definitely has a boatload of highly accessible music. John Pedersen had the courage to put his feelings into music and share it with the world...to be a part of that, all you have to do is listen".
Bill Binkelman wrote the following in a "Wind and Wire" Magazine review from 2002: "...John Pedersen's third album, while retaining the artist's likable and warm melodic compositional style veers solidly and confidently into adult contempoary music territory. "When Sun Broke Through" is hugely enjoyable collection of tunes. Peppered with a variety of styles, moods and tempos, the songs on the CD still have that "Pedersen" feel to them...While striking out in some new musical directions, it also demonstrates a further maturation of this artist's talent."
Back at the time of its release in 2002, "When Sun Broke Through" charted at an astounding #14 on The New Age Reporter Top 100. But even now in early 2009, this album is receiving numerous downloads on iTunes. The experimental drum and bass tune, "Out of this World", was receiving radio airplay on KCCK as recently as April 2007, as well as on the Digi-Tube Podcast in May 2008. Also in 2009, "New Horizons" started receiving airplay on the Live365 internet broadcasts "Generally Gentle Radio" and "New Age Stars". Even today, the album is getting a lot of attention on iTunes, Amazon.com and Spotify.
This album is an uplifting look at a difficult time in John Pedersen's life. But it has a happy ending. John's son Ben has recovered fully from the accident and graduated from high school and even learned to play the guitar since then. The music from this album has even been featured in several TV shows about San Diego's Children's Hospital where Ben was a patient. Stories about Ben's recovery were aired on all of the local news broadcasts and newspapers.
In the Spring of 2002, John performed a number of songs from this album at the Kit Carson Park Amphitheater in Escondido, CA. The response was positive as indicated by the generous CD sales afterward. Future John Pedersen performances also included songs from this special project, including the 2006 mall concerts in the San Diego area. In fact, John was so fond of the song "New Horizons" that he put an acoustic version of it on his release, "Groovidi", as part of the medley called, "Afterthoughts". Also, the beautiful piano ballad "Forever" was included in a medley on the "Paradise" album entitled, "Themes of Love". Tunes from this album were also performed by John at performances in 2007, 2008 and 2018.
For this recording, John used the Emu Proformance Piano Module, the Alesis Nano Synth, Alsesis Nano Bass, Korg X3 and a Roland JV-1010 sound module.
After listening to the audio clips, be sure to purchase a copy of this CD and sit back and enjoy the ride! You can also download either the entire album or just individual tracks from iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. Free streaming is available at Spotify and Pandora. Also, YouTube has all of John's catalog available for free listening.
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