Jazz CDs: Fresh sounds and reciprocity

Yaniv Taubenhouse set himself quite a task back in 2015 when he launched his Moments in Trio trilogy. You could be forgiven for thinking the three-volume undertaking is something of a blast from the past. After all, didn’t Brad Mehldau also run through a piano-led threesome series a few years back? The Israeli pianist’s Moments in Trio set has just produced its trilogy closer, which goes by the pretty suggestive name of Roads.

Indeed Taubenhouse, who generally resides in New York, has been traveling his own path along with bassist Rick Rosato and drummer Jerad Lippi, for some time and, by the sound of Roads, they have spent much of the past seven or so years exploring harmonic shades and textures that generally run along lyrical lines.

With so many live performance and studio hours behind them you’d expect Taubenhouse et al. to be a pretty cohesive bunch musically, as well as personally, and that is just what you get, for example, on “Rush Hour Traffic.” The leader takes off on all kinds of runs, as rapid-fire arpeggios follow blues intervals follow mellifluous dense chords, as Lippi keeps up a machine-gunfire-like drum anchor. This is an undulating, meandering piece that at times careens and other times takes on a more pensive mood before the power level jumps several notches and things get a little feral, yet still somewhat understated.

Having a strong simpatico bond between the musicians means things can change, dramatically, at the drop of a hat. Rhythms are there to be melded, molded and attacked, taking everyone along for the ride. “Sailing Over the Horizon,” one of seven originals on the ten-track venture, is a striking case in point, as the individual instrumental textures bifurcate, merge and complement each other. There is something patently studious and precise about Taubenhouse’s delivery, but also an eagerness to let fly, while his tender touch adds alluring gentleness to the proceedings on the closing title track.

The fluidity of the leader’s keyboard work comes to the fore, somewhat oxymoronically, on “Boo Boo’s Birthday,” with Taubenhouse demonstrating his fondness for silky lines, albeit with the odd acutely angled departure, which intriguingly contrasts with Thelonious Monk’s original reading.

While Roads may not be an out-and-out leap of faith, in terms of the trilogy evolutionary continuum, one can see where the trio is coming from and it will be interesting to see where their road takes them next.

That Maria Grand has chops is not in doubt, any doubt at all. Having attended the birth of both of my daughters I can declare unreservedly, that a woman in labor is an incredibly potent force. The same could be said, but in more cumulative terms, about the nine or so months leading up to the momentous event.

That power and primordial strength comes through in almost feral textures and colors on Swiss-born New Yorker tenor saxophonist Grand’s latest release Reciprocity which evolved while she was pregnant.

The force is clearly with all three members of the all-female trio, as bassist Kanoa Mendenhall and drummer Savannah Harris keep pace with the leader on various sonic and emotional levels. They all also take turns contributing moving vocal lines atop the close-knit instrumentals.

This is a true tour de force, and covers numerous bases. There are bursts of high energy as well as measured passages that gently yet assiduously unfurl pointed intent until, before you know it, you are swept away in a maelstrom that is, at once, unremitting yet subtle.

One standout exemplar is “Creation: Ladder of Swords,” which exudes compelling drama that appears to feed off higher spheres of existence, underscored by Mendenhall’s rich but understated bass layering, as Harris punctuates the evolving storyline on drums and cymbals. However, despite the considerable presence of the latter, there is no mistaking who is leader.

Still in her twenties, Grand is mature and self-assured enough to get her message across without trying to ram it down our throats. The joy and gravity of impending motherhood inform the sensibilities, textures, colors and unapologetic heart-on sleeve ambience across all 13 tracks, 12 of which are self-written. And while we are on the subject of “sleeves,” the CD cover is designed in a foldout style, magically opening up to reveal highly expressive illustrations of the players, with Grand a suitably rotund figure.

At the risk of venturing into non-PC territory, it feels like a record only female artists could create. “Prayer,” for example, is a hypnotic slow burner, with angelic sonorous vocals which tend towards the evocatively stratospheric.

In fact, there is a bit of almost everything here. “Creation: A Home in Mind” has Grand riffing à la Charles Lloyd, spinning out tendrils that weave between the ethereal to the downright raucous, and all deftly supported and complemented by Mendenhall and Harris with the latter, in particular, providing some energized nip-and-tuck fills.

Then there is “Now Take Your Day” which opens with a fetching doo-wopish close three-part harmony a cappella intro, before drums and bass shuffle into view. Grand then joins the fray, adding an earthy feel to the affair while the undulating anchor keeps matters surging along.

There is a conceptual element to the album too which, given Grand’s condition at the time, perhaps unsurprisingly features several tracks with the word “creation” in the title. This is a powerful maternal offering.

The title of Ari Erev’s first album for five years gives the cultural game away. Or does it?

Over the years, the Israeli pianist has gained a reputation for delivering lyrical material that tends towards the sensitive side. Close To Home, Erev’s fourth release to date, in fact, ranges across pretty broad cultural terrain.

The appropriately titled opener, “Israeli Story,” featuring New York-based Israeli flutist Hadar Noiberg, certainly has a whiff or two of this part of the world but there is plenty of Latinesque flavoring in there too. Then again, as we all know, Israel is a definitive cultural melting pot so why, indeed, shouldn’t “Israeli” jazz incorporate seasoning from across a wide expanse of stylistic tracts?

Erev is supported on this outing by tried and trusted sidemen soprano saxist Yuval Cohen and percussionist Gilad Dobrecky, with bassist Asaf Hakimi weighing in, mostly on acoustic bass, and Slovenian-born drummer Gasper Bertocelj joining in the fray.

The pianist clearly has a polished grasp of harmonics, of the velvety variety, and a keen understanding of how to stretch the tension factor in the gentlest of ways.

“Afar,” dedicated to the leader’s daughter Tal, is a particularly measured emotive affair. Cohen’s bittersweet solo is taken up by Hakimi as he launches into a rich dark offering of his own, with Cohen and Noiberg then enjoying a playful tête-à-tête before Erev brings it all home in mellifluous fashion.

There are some covers in the track lineup too. Erev’s readings of Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” and “Shiur Moledet” (Homeland Class) by Ephraim Shamir and originally performed by seminal Israeli rock-pop band Kaveret are intriguing, and Erev really comes into his melodic element with his rendition of Brazilian songsmith Milton Nascimento’s moving “Olha Maria.”

Close To Home frequently puts one in mind of “good old Israel” songs performed by the likes of Mati Caspi. On some of the numbers, you can easily imagine some singer delivering plaintive Hebrew vocals.

Erev is clearly a romantic, and a dab hand at caressive keyboard work.