A bittersweet moment for the bandleader, drummer/composer Phillipe Lemm, First Steps celebrates the life and musicianship of longtime friend and collaborator, pianist Angelo Di Loreto who passed away unexpectedly in October of 2020. Alongside Lemm’s drums and percussion and Jeff Koch on bass, Di Loreto’s musical voice is woven intrinsically throughout the album’s tracks. Due to Lemm’s background in dance, the group’s trio sound is unlike almost any you’ll hear with the conventional piano, drums, bass configuration as Lemm carries the concepts of movement and choreography both to his kit and his compositions. The project draws inspiration from traditional folkloric dances (“Trenke Todorke”) and their rhythms while some songs are more based on reflecting on life and the Covid-related byproduct events of the past year. The overall message is “Keep moving, keep flowing, be flexible.”
Lemm, Koch and Di Loreto first met as students a decade ago at Manhattan School of Music, formed a connection and began playing freely as a trio.” This impassioned playing sustained the group through ten years of performance, during which time the trio debuted at such esteemed institutions as Bimhuis (Amsterdam), North Sea Jazz Festival, the Blue Note (NYC), Ronnie Scott’s (London), and the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C). The trio even won the 2015 B-Jazz International Contest in Belgium, in which Di Loreto was named ‘Best Soloist’.
The album is a mix of originals from Lemm, along with several compositions penned by Di Loreto, amidst a few dazzling covers. First Steps conveys a celebration of the music Di Loreto wrote as well as songs that were born from experiences that the late pianist shared with the bandleader. The album is one of the last documents of Di Loreto’s musical output and it encapsulates the beautiful person that Di Loreto was.
The first tune, “The Kiln,” penned by Lemm, was released as a single last month. Lemm’s driving and intensely polyrhythmic composition demonstrate the stunning interplay between these three masterful players right from the outset. The composer notes that the song was influenced by a family of potters that the group lived with while performing in Belgium. Lemm recalls being inspired by this family that were so masterful at their crafts, creating beautiful objects with their hands. “Kalief,” another featured single, released just two weeks ago, is dedicated to the memory of Kalief Browder, a young African American man who was wrongfully accused of a crime and was held in prison for several years before he was proven to be innocent. Unfortunately, the young man ultimately committed suicide. Disturbed by the racial injustice still so prevalent within American culture, Lemm composed this moving ballad featuring guest soloist Simon Moullier on vibraphone, who also contributes to “The Kiln.” These are among the four pieces composed by Lemm.
Di Loreto composed two pieces. “Malambo” was inspired by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. This high-energy piece which Di Loreto would jokingly refer to as “cardio jazz” is a wonderful example of Di Loreto’s compositional prowess. He is a highly versatile pianist who can play delicately and with restraint as well as with unrelenting power as you’ll hear on this one. His interplay with Lemm, especially toward the end of piece, is fascinating. “Elysian Voices” is another display of Di Loreto’s innovative arranging, featuring soulful pianistic refrains and stacked vocal parts from Lemm.
In addition to original compositions, the album includes several uniquely interpreted cover songs. The oft-covered “River” by Joni Mitchell is a reflective song that grapples with mortality, hardship, and change that’s often heard around the Holidays due to its winter imagery. And, in another sense, it’s a theme song for this Covid era, with all of us wishing we had that proverbial “river to skate away on.” Di Loreto’s piano interpretation is by turns, sensitive, inventive, and even buoyant in places. Similarly, “Don’t Give Up” by Peter Gabriel, an optimistic answer of sorts, is heard here in gorgeous form with Di Loreto and Koch volleying the melody parts between them. In the folkloric “Trenke Todorke,” unlike most of the other pieces, their individual talents are on display in solo and two-way exchanges. Lemm’s closer, “Caffeinated Souls” has the fury of his drumming, and both the power and restraint of all three players encapsulated in one piece.
Lemm has some thoughts worth sharing in his liners, “Before I played the drums, I was a dancer, and in a way, I still feel like the drums are my expression of movement. I can’t sit still. There is a huge need to move, to express, to connect….2020 felt like an uncertain choreography. We had to practice slow dancing by ourselves and learn to maneuver without references. It dictated its own movement and made us more aware of our fundamental need for one another and how much we desired our dance partners…Music is my first step to connect to you, the listener, the observer, the dance partner. Perhaps in person, maybe from afar, but always in spirit.”
Like what a magnificent, free-flowing ballet is to the eyes, Lemm’s music does the same for the ears. It’s remarkable that just three musicians can paint such beautiful soundscapes.
