Jason Moran & Bandwagon/Ten (Blue Note): Pianist Jason Moran and his Bandwagon trio are busy from the very outset of this CD and that’s a reflection of the ambitious career upon which this release is based. The threesome have culled its selections from various larger projects, including multi-media presentations, commissioned works and educational initiatives and set the excerpts in a three-piece format. But these baker’s dozen cuts are stripped down in only relative terms: counterpoint, counter-melody and counter-rhythm are in such perpetual motion that even the musicianship on the quietly reflective likes of an appropriately titled “The Subtle One,” is as vivid as its up-tempo surroundings.
Gwylim Simcock/Blues Vignette (Bashore Records): The components of this package, one with Simcock in solo and duo settings with a cellist, the other featuring the pianist with his trio, are as seamlessly interwoven with each other as with the striking cover graphics that adorn the two-CD set. The predominantly stark mood of the first disc still has its share of earthy swing, while those proportions are reversed on disc two, so that, ultimately, Vignette becomes one extended piece of expertly rendered jazz.
Richie Beirach & Dave Liebman with Frankfurt Radio Big Band/ Quest for Freedom/(Sunnyside) The pianist and horn-man are set in equally sharp relief from each other and the big band led by Jim McNeely, which, in its sophisticated arrangements, conjures a majesty comparable to a symphony orchestra. Nevertheless, there’s enough swinging going on here, albeit at a subliminal level most of the time, to call to mind the great big band tradition, the earthy elements of which are a change of pace to the often eerie air conjured up by the soloists.
Vjay Iyer/Solo (Act Music): It’s a tribute to Vijay Iyer’s technical expertise and imagination that this solo album is as arresting as his work with a trio. The pianist’s compositional sense, rooted in the tradition represented by the Monk and Ellington tunes included here, never eludes him, so that even his improvisations have an intrinsic structure. And the means by which he maintains an internal rhythm, while so intricately embroidering the melodies, is nothing short of stunning: in the end the absence of other musicians is a non-factor in listening to this cd.
Mike Mainieri/Crescent (NYC Records): The vibist’s double album is a tribute to his late partner, saxophonist Charlie Mariano (here on one of his last recorded projects prior to his passing), as much as the work of saxophone colossus John Coltrane that inspired the project. Recorded with only one other musician, bassist Dieter Ilg, the momentum never lapses throughout nearly two hours of music. On the contrary, throughout both CDs the glowing sound of the vibes meshes with bittersweet saxophone, underpinned by a bass so emphatic yet understated that the music lives, breathes and, ever so softly, resounds.
