In the Hall of Mirrors. John Zorn (Tzadik, 2014)
Alloy. Tyshorn Sorey (Pi Recordings, 2014).
In a recent batch
of CD purchases, I subsequently realized I had two piano trios featuring
classically trained pianists at the helm.
As the work horse of the jazz rhythm section, the piano trio remains
attractive for the listener because you can hear what everyone is contributing
to the performance. Given the wide span
of styles, anything from Teddy Wilson and Erroll Garner through Paul Bley and
Herbie Nichols or further outward to Cecil
Taylor, great satisfaction is to be had from piano bass and drums, be it the
pace, the space or the density of the music.
The two recordings flagged here offer
a glimpse into what happens when jazz bass and drums accompany a pianist that brings
the classical music approach to the piano part. More specifically, in the case
of John Zorn’s 2014 release In the Hall
of Mirrors the part is (apparently) scored by John Zorn and played by
Stephen Gosling. With Tyshorn Sorey’s Alloy the
relationship is not clear but similarly the pianist, Cory Smythe, is a recognized modern classical musician. Is this the latest version to merge
classical music with jazz?
I like the
chamber music end of jazz but am uneasy with the idea that people trained in classical
music are best suited to fronting jazz combos.
Clearly, gifted musicians can bring interesting things to the party, but
I remain suspicious.
Tyshorn Sorey is
listed as a man with catholic musical interests, including modern classical
music, and Alloy does not state how much was scored and how
much was left to the pianist to improvise. The music moves between delicate and
sparse through to more frenetic passages and the trio sound nicely poised
throughout. There is no sense of the pianist leading with drums and bass simply
following. Instead the trio move nicely as a unit with common purpose of expressing
the themes and ideas as appropriate for the mood. You can expect a jazz pianist to have absorbed
influences from the greats. But here, you don’t expect to hear phrases or licks
typical of pianists handling the standard repertoire and this is part of the thrill of listening
for the first time to a unit in which you have no clear expectation of what is
to come.
What then is the
focus for a recording where the pianist is brought in to interpret the music of
John Zorn on the piano? What is the role or function of the bass and
drum accompaniment? Surely they will be
there to simply supply pulse and chordal outline? Tyshorn and Greg Cohen are players unlikely
to simply provide a backing track but instead play with much style and panache
to give the recording that sense of three players interacting on the go,
dancing with ideas and each other to provide a spontaneous feel. However, I am left with this nagging uncertainty
over how to approach the music. It
bothers me that this is not a piano trio but a pianist with a bassist and
drummer improvising to it. The pianist
will be focusing on the score and not on
the contribution of the bassist and drummer. To my mind that is not the point
of a piano trio.
It could be
argued that piano trio with Bud Powell
at the keyboard is a format where the drums and bass are more likely to simply provide
pulse and shape since the outpouring of lines from Powell can be dominant and
leave little room for interplay. Yet
Powell’s trio music is essential and compelling. Should In
the Hall of Mirrors be considered to
be a similar style of recording , simply adjusted to give more free range for
the accompanying musicians?
In the liner
notes Greg Cohen is stated as saying that this is the future of jazz. These two recordings are to welcomed and there
are great moments in this music to enjoy while you contemplate where you stand
on such things.
