Relaxing & Romantic Piano, Vol. VII is a collection of twenty-seven original piano solos composed and performed by James Michael Stevens. As the title suggests, the music is velvety smooth, graceful and heartfelt - perfect for a romantic evening by the fire or a quiet candlelight dinner. With beautiful melodies and enough complexity to enjoy many times with focused attention, the music also easily slips into the background to enhance other activities (studying, a social gathering, etc.). The album has a playing time of almost 1 1/4 hours, and the music provides a very pleasant way to sustain a warm and relaxed atmosphere without any jarring changes. That’s not to say all of the pieces are similar or same-sounding. A few are mysterious, some are dreamy, some are more thoughtful and poignant, etc. It’s a lovely combination of pieces to listen to and, for the pianists and piano students out there, there is also a companion solo piano songbook with all twenty-seven pieces available for download from SheetMusicPlus.com.

James Michael Stevens is the Chairman of the Music Department at Welch College in Tennessee and earned his D.M.A. in composition from University of Kentucky in 2004. He is a frequent recipient of the ASCAP Standard Award in Composition and has recorded and transcribed to sheet music a very impressive body of work that includes original pieces for piano, choral works and organ music as well as covers of hymns. He has also composed music for other solo instruments with and without piano accompaniment, and has a staggering 3470 items on SheetMusicPlus.com.

Relaxing & Romantic Piano, Vol. VII is available from Amazon, iTunes and several of the streaming sites.