Jun 9 2017
Recommended: Randy Ingram – “The Wandering”
My first reaction to the latest from pianist Randy Ingram is that it’s fine. My second listen landed a similar opinion: Sure, it’s an enjoyable recording. I like it. And, later, after additional listens, the album’s impact stayed locked in on that same level of agreeableness. At some point, it dawned on me just how many times I was returning to this album that I never really felt that strongly about.
I have a busy listening schedule and I simply do not have time to devote to albums that aren’t forging a connection. But The Wandering has hung around my listening queue, and that isn’t something that occurs accidentally. Somehow and at some point, the music struck a chord in me, and I guess it just never dulled. All evidence points to the music making an impression, all without my noticing. This isn’t a common occurrence. Hell, it’s not even an uncommon occurrence. And yet, here I am, compelled to recommend the album with some warm words of admiration. And this isn’t one those trite misdirects where a writer makes you think he’s going to pan a recording but instead says it’s the best thing ever. I still don’t have strong feelings about The Wandering, and yet its play count is up near the top in my 2017 playlist, and as I sit here typing this up, I’m thinking that the album would make a nice addition to my early-morning-don’t-fuck-with-my-tranquility listening regiment.
This duo collaboration between Ingram and bassist Drew Gress has a conversant demeanor, but the chatter never grows hurried or blithely dishes out notes without first considering both tone and meaning. The intros to “Guimarães” and “The Peacocks” radiate an intense melodic focus, but the duo prefers to drift along, and that’s often how a song is rolled out. There’s some renditions. The duo takes Wayne Shorter’s “Chief Crazy Horse,” Bill Evans’ “Show-Type Tune” and Kenny Wheeler’s “Three for D’reen” for a spin. It’s nice. But the gems of this recording are embodied by the original compositions. With the former category, Ingram and Gress embrace the compositions with a respectable amount of care and reverence. But it’s on the originals that the duo treats things as an immersive experience, and they don’t play the notes so much as breathe them out. As a consequence, it provides that subtle, but resonant, extra dose of life, and it’s one that makes all the difference in the world.
Your album personnel: Randy Ingram (piano) and Drew Gress (bass).
Released on Sunnyside Records.
Listen to another album track at the label’s Bandcamp page.
Music from NYC.
Kites Over Havana is more than a titular reference on the newest from the
Jun 19 2017
Recommended: Dan Tepfer Trio – “Eleven Cages”
Tepfer leaves his signature on a piece, and the music of Eleven Cages further cements the qualities of his particular style on piano. The music is clever without being in-your-face-italicized clever. There’s an unending supply of passion that, thankfully, never devolves into melodrama. This body of work possesses a sharp wit and a keen intelligence, and it never gets caught admiring itself in the mirror. And the music is rippled with the themes and inspirations that set things into motion, and it’s very easy to forget their presence even as the effect is felt from those same qualities.
It’s pretty easy to recommend this album. And if you’re new to the modern jazz scene and in the process of sketching out a map of who to keep on your radar on who to explore further, Tepfer is your choice for the former, while bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Nate Wood satisfy the criteria for the latter.
Your album personnel: Dan Tepfer (piano), Thomas Morgan (bass) and Nate Wood (drums).
Released on Sunnyside Records.
Listen to more of the album at the label’s Bandcamp page.
Music from Brooklyn.
Available at: Bandcamp | Amazon
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2017 releases • 0 • Tags: Dan Tepfer, Sunnyside Records