Ricordare
By Jeff Tamarkin
The 70-year-old Argentinean pianist and composer Carlos Franzetti delights in mixing things up. Over four-plus decades he’s recorded symphonic (most recently, 2017’s Luminosa and 2018’s Buenos Aires Noir) and solo projects; composed film music and conducted, arranged and orchestrated others’ works (Paquito D’Rivera, Steve Kuhn, Ruben Blades); slipped seamlessly between jazz, tango, and classical music; and sung standards. Nothing seems to be out of his reach.
The purest expressions of Franzetti’s talent may, however, be his small-combo efforts, and Ricordare (“to remember”) is a piano-trio gem. With David Finck handling bass duties and Eliot Zigmund drumming, Franzetti offers up four originals and a half-dozen interpretations, ranging from the Ennio Morricone title track to a trio of the most familiar melodies in the Western lexicon (“Danny Boy,” “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Over the Rainbow”).
Franzetti displays something of a split personality on Ricordare. His ballads are warm, inviting blankets, rolling easily and seductively; his uptempo numbers breathe fire. The aforementioned title track introduces the dynamics at work. Casual and tender at first, virtually drum-free, it picks up midway into its nearly eight minutes. Finck’s move to arco mode comes as a jolt, opening up the vista most cinematically. “Danny Boy,” at key turns barely recognizable, serves as a showcase for the pianist’s precision as well as the rhythm section’s uncanny knack for anticipation and the clever turn of phrase.
Naturally, there is tango to be found, but its placement is more subtle than overt: The Franzetti composition “Allison’s Dance” is practically giddy rhythmically, but never does it wear an identity as one specific thing or another. Franzetti opts to bow out solo, with another self-penned number, “Song Without Words,” as whole and fulfilling as anything else that’s just occupied the past hour.
Tord Gustavsen Trio
By Jeff Tamarkin
The 70-year-old Argentinean pianist and composer Carlos Franzetti delights in mixing things up. Over four-plus decades he’s recorded symphonic (most recently, 2017’s Luminosa and 2018’s Buenos Aires Noir) and solo projects; composed film music and conducted, arranged and orchestrated others’ works (Paquito D’Rivera, Steve Kuhn, Ruben Blades); slipped seamlessly between jazz, tango, and classical music; and sung standards. Nothing seems to be out of his reach.
The purest expressions of Franzetti’s talent may, however, be his small-combo efforts, and Ricordare (“to remember”) is a piano-trio gem. With David Finck handling bass duties and Eliot Zigmund drumming, Franzetti offers up four originals and a half-dozen interpretations, ranging from the Ennio Morricone title track to a trio of the most familiar melodies in the Western lexicon (“Danny Boy,” “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Over the Rainbow”).
Franzetti displays something of a split personality on Ricordare. His ballads are warm, inviting blankets, rolling easily and seductively; his uptempo numbers breathe fire. The aforementioned title track introduces the dynamics at work. Casual and tender at first, virtually drum-free, it picks up midway into its nearly eight minutes. Finck’s move to arco mode comes as a jolt, opening up the vista most cinematically. “Danny Boy,” at key turns barely recognizable, serves as a showcase for the pianist’s precision as well as the rhythm section’s uncanny knack for anticipation and the clever turn of phrase.
Naturally, there is tango to be found, but its placement is more subtle than overt: The Franzetti composition “Allison’s Dance” is practically giddy rhythmically, but never does it wear an identity as one specific thing or another. Franzetti opts to bow out solo, with another self-penned number, “Song Without Words,” as whole and fulfilling as anything else that’s just occupied the past hour.
Tord Gustavsen Trio
The Other Side
By Mike Jurkovic
Like a dusty, Southern gothic novel, Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen opens his return to the trio format with the moody, enigmatic "The Tunnel." All his compositions on The Other Side bare their secrets slowly and play out their methodically expressionistic hauntings with a gospel-influenced left hand seemingly rooted thousands of miles away in the muddy Louisiana delta.
Though Being There (ECM, 2007) was widely hailed yet often criticized as being cool in nature, The Other Side is a warm, whole-cloth adventure of spacious interiors, dug into and revealed with the kindred aid of stalwart drummer Jarle Vespestad and new bassist Sigurd Hole, who bears his love of dark contours and folk influences on his sleeve, creating a full, deft space through which the pianist leads his trio. Harald Johnsen, the trio's original bassist, died of an unknown illness at the age of 41 in 2011.
By Mike Jurkovic
Like a dusty, Southern gothic novel, Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen opens his return to the trio format with the moody, enigmatic "The Tunnel." All his compositions on The Other Side bare their secrets slowly and play out their methodically expressionistic hauntings with a gospel-influenced left hand seemingly rooted thousands of miles away in the muddy Louisiana delta.
Though Being There (ECM, 2007) was widely hailed yet often criticized as being cool in nature, The Other Side is a warm, whole-cloth adventure of spacious interiors, dug into and revealed with the kindred aid of stalwart drummer Jarle Vespestad and new bassist Sigurd Hole, who bears his love of dark contours and folk influences on his sleeve, creating a full, deft space through which the pianist leads his trio. Harald Johnsen, the trio's original bassist, died of an unknown illness at the age of 41 in 2011.
Gustavsen freely mixes the ancient music of Norway with his love of Bach, the pianist arranging three chorales for the album; amongst them, the Vespestad-led "Schlafes Bruder" integrates a deep groove that Bach may never have imagined.
Gustavsen brings all he's learned in the interim years, playing with fiddlers and Iranian musicians, to his writing. "Re-Melt" is powered by the pianist's melodic insistence and Vespestad's understated groove. The atmospheric rumination of "Taste and See," "Leftover Lullaby No. 4," and the closing "Curves" are simply beautiful, lyrical statements, taken at a pace that almost belies time.
Track Listing:
Gustavsen brings all he's learned in the interim years, playing with fiddlers and Iranian musicians, to his writing. "Re-Melt" is powered by the pianist's melodic insistence and Vespestad's understated groove. The atmospheric rumination of "Taste and See," "Leftover Lullaby No. 4," and the closing "Curves" are simply beautiful, lyrical statements, taken at a pace that almost belies time.
Track Listing:
The Tunnel; Kirken, den er et ganment hus; Re-Melt; Duality; Ingen vinner frem til den evige ro; Taste and See; Schlafes Bruder; Jesu, meine Freude Jesus, det eneste; The Other Side; O Traurigkeit; Leftover Lullabye No. 4; Curves.
Personnel:
Personnel:
Tord Gustavsen: piano, electonics; Sigurd Hole: bass; Jarle Vespestad: drums.
Kurt Elling
Kurt Elling
The Questions
By Dan Bilawsky
How does one grapple with existence and its juxtaposition against the present state of affairs? That's the question that hangs heaviest over The Questions. While vocalist Kurt Elling didn't come into this production with a theme in mind, he discovered a through line in the act of wrestling with difficulties and dreams in this age of marked unreason and unrest. With these ten songs he explores that topic to the fullest, coloring the music with his signature blend of authority and understanding.
A mixture of tones—inquiring and knowing—sets this meditation on humanity and our times in motion with "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." Bob Dylan's difficult truths by way of Elling's passionate delivery immediately become the cynosure of ears and minds, though co-producer Branford Marsalis's soprano solo and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts' pelting finish certainly garner attention. What follows—an examining and affirming smile at life in pianist Stu Mindeman's musical setting of poet Franz Wright's " A Happy Thought," a gorgeous treatment of "American Tune" that recasts the Paul Simon classic as a treatise on immigration wrapped in hope's light and trapped in fear's web, and a hymn-like interpretation of Peter Gabriel's "Washing Of The Water" that's as emotive as anything in Elling's discography—greatly furthers the image of the artist playing with the powers of enlightenment and doubt.
Through the remainder of the album, Elling paints with the various shades of perception, poetry, and philosophy that he knows so well. The bluesy resonance of "A Secret In Three Views" belies the deep thinking behind his Rumi-inspired lyrics to Jaco Pastorius' "Three Views Of A Secret," "Lonely Town" utilizes lighthearted sounds to frame the topic of solitude, "Endless Lawns" uses pianist-composer Carla Bley's "Lawns" as the musical basis for an arc that includes turmoil and release, and "I Have Dreamed" speaks to a yearning for love to bloom. Then the album closes with "The Enchantress," a work nodding toward matriarchal figures—both Marsalis' and Elling's—and taking directional cues from poet Wallace Stevens' "The Idea Of Order At Key West," and a toned-down "Skylark," bringing the title of this album into lyrical consideration in a subdued light. The core band members and notable guests all make the weight of their contributions felt along the way here, but Elling manages to carry the weight of the world in his voice. He may not have the answer to all of the questions, but he certainly makes you think about them.
Track Listing:
By Dan Bilawsky
How does one grapple with existence and its juxtaposition against the present state of affairs? That's the question that hangs heaviest over The Questions. While vocalist Kurt Elling didn't come into this production with a theme in mind, he discovered a through line in the act of wrestling with difficulties and dreams in this age of marked unreason and unrest. With these ten songs he explores that topic to the fullest, coloring the music with his signature blend of authority and understanding.
A mixture of tones—inquiring and knowing—sets this meditation on humanity and our times in motion with "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." Bob Dylan's difficult truths by way of Elling's passionate delivery immediately become the cynosure of ears and minds, though co-producer Branford Marsalis's soprano solo and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts' pelting finish certainly garner attention. What follows—an examining and affirming smile at life in pianist Stu Mindeman's musical setting of poet Franz Wright's " A Happy Thought," a gorgeous treatment of "American Tune" that recasts the Paul Simon classic as a treatise on immigration wrapped in hope's light and trapped in fear's web, and a hymn-like interpretation of Peter Gabriel's "Washing Of The Water" that's as emotive as anything in Elling's discography—greatly furthers the image of the artist playing with the powers of enlightenment and doubt.
Through the remainder of the album, Elling paints with the various shades of perception, poetry, and philosophy that he knows so well. The bluesy resonance of "A Secret In Three Views" belies the deep thinking behind his Rumi-inspired lyrics to Jaco Pastorius' "Three Views Of A Secret," "Lonely Town" utilizes lighthearted sounds to frame the topic of solitude, "Endless Lawns" uses pianist-composer Carla Bley's "Lawns" as the musical basis for an arc that includes turmoil and release, and "I Have Dreamed" speaks to a yearning for love to bloom. Then the album closes with "The Enchantress," a work nodding toward matriarchal figures—both Marsalis' and Elling's—and taking directional cues from poet Wallace Stevens' "The Idea Of Order At Key West," and a toned-down "Skylark," bringing the title of this album into lyrical consideration in a subdued light. The core band members and notable guests all make the weight of their contributions felt along the way here, but Elling manages to carry the weight of the world in his voice. He may not have the answer to all of the questions, but he certainly makes you think about them.
Track Listing:
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall; A Happy Thought; American Tune; Washing of the Water; A Secret in Three Views; Lonely Town; Endless Lawns; I Have Dreamed; The Enchantress; Skylark.
Personnel:
Personnel:
Kurt Elling: vocals; Stu Mindeman: piano, Hammond B-3 organ; Joey Calderazzo: piano (4, 6, 9); John McLean: acoustic guitar, electric guitar; Clark Sommers: bass; Branford Marsalis: saxophones; Marquis Hill: trumpet, flugelhorn; Jeff "Tain" Watts: drums.
Adrian Iaies & Rodrigo Agudelo
Como Si Te Estuviese Viendo
Tracks:
Como si te estuviese viendo
Game Over
Agudelo in the Mood for Love
Esa foto encandila
Colegiales when it Rains
Miniaturas
(What it Means) Saber que siempre estas por ahí
Seis punto dos
Missing Strayhorn
Personnel:
ADRIAN IAIES piano
RODRIGO AGUDELO guitarra eléctrica, española (en temas 3 y 8 )
Grabado el 28 de mayo en Estudios Doctor F.
Grabación, mezcla y mastering: Florencio Justo
Arte de tapa: Javo y Caro
Técnico de piano: Roberto Rovira
Adrian Iaies & Rodrigo Agudelo
Como Si Te Estuviese Viendo
Tracks:
Como si te estuviese viendo
Game Over
Agudelo in the Mood for Love
Esa foto encandila
Colegiales when it Rains
Miniaturas
(What it Means) Saber que siempre estas por ahí
Seis punto dos
Missing Strayhorn
Personnel:
ADRIAN IAIES piano
RODRIGO AGUDELO guitarra eléctrica, española (en temas 3 y 8 )
Grabado el 28 de mayo en Estudios Doctor F.
Grabación, mezcla y mastering: Florencio Justo
Arte de tapa: Javo y Caro
Técnico de piano: Roberto Rovira
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