On Red Moon, Peter Kater returns to the fields of his greatest artistic and commercial success, reuniting with Native American flute player R. Carlos Nakai. The pair made several albums in the 1990s that explored an intuitive, Native chamber music sound, much of it built on improvisation. Along with Nakai, Kater works with Native musicians Robert Mirabal and Mary Youngblood on Red Moon. Also here are non-Native players like Paul McCandless of the group Oregon and Ara Tokatlian of Arco Iris. This is a more contemporarily grooved and composed work, with Kater basing much of the music on rhythm loops. It gives him a hipper rhythmic palette, albeit one that's a bit generic. But on top, he's orchestrated some hypnotic tracks like "Deep Waters," with intertwined flute and low pennywhistle from Nakai and McCandless over a cycling guitar pattern and trance rhythm. Although Robert Mirabal is featured prominently in the packaging, he only contributes incidental speaking vocals on one track. It's the other musicians who lend their sounds to Kater's lush arrangements and piano, creating a tension between soulful moods and plush melodies. --John Diliberto
