JAZZ PIANO TRIO ROUNDUP
A plethora of great releases show there's lots of life in the format
Bill Mays Trio/Live At Jazz Standard, Hank Jones/For My Father, Roger Kellaway/Remembering Bobby Darin

The piano trio is alive and well, not only in its modern approach a la E.S.T. or Bad Plus or Rachel Z, but also in a more mainstream jazz approach. For some, the word ‘mainstream’ may signal the mundane or the less adventurous, but that is not what is meant here at all. The trio setting is one of the loveliest for jazz pianists, because it not only allows them to showcase their harmonic concept as well their abilities as a soloist, it also allows them to interact with a seemingly ideal number of other musicians. For drummers and bassists, the piano trio is an opportunity to play both supportive and leadership roles, the piano being an instrument that is dynamically well matched to both. Finally, the piano trio affords musicians and audience a high level of intimacy. No wonder that there is a neverending supply of excellent jazz piano trio albums.

Bill Mays has forged a long career as a solid pianist who never sounds content merely to work from a well-honed bag of tricks. His latest trio, composed of Matt Wilson and Martin Wind, has recorded a couple of albums for Palmetto Records prior to this one, both of which have garnered a chorus of praise from critics and listeners alike. His latest, Live At Jazz Standard, is a live recording that demonstrates the group’s strengths and will have listeners clamoring for more.

It should come as no surprise that Mays, currently over sixty, has been influenced by some of the greatest jazz pianists to work in a trio setting: Tommy Flanagan, Hank Jones, Wynton Kelly, and Horace Silver. He brings the same ability to play insanely tastefully while still swinging like a wild man to the keyboard that his mentors did. Mays never sounds like he’s trying to cram everything he knows into a single selection or solo, concentrating instead on the song itself—its form as well as its emotional content—and allowing the song to assert its own personality through his playing. For example, he plays “How Are Things In Glocca Morra” with a real appreciation for the tune and its melancholy lyrics, never allowing himself to take the song for granted.

In addition, Mays displays the ear and attention to tonal quality of a classical pianist, displaying the inescapable influence of Bill Evans as well, but not in the obvious ways some pianists do. Mays’ style of playing is all his own. Nor is he a stranger to modern jazz sensibilities, which he displays in the muting of the piano strings on “Darn That Dream” or the way he strums the strings on “Willow Weep for Me.” Mays is not planted in the past, he merely understands it and has the ability to both call to mind the great players of the past and the talent and technique to make his own statement.

For their parts, Wilson and Wind offer support where needed, but are not afraid of taking a song in a different direction, either. The trio didn’t work out these arrangements to the smallest detail, preferring instead to allow their listening skills and imaginations to dictate where the individual songs would go. The results are very possibly the best in Mays’ discography.

What octogenarian pianist Hank Jones may lack in terms of innovation he more than makes up for in terms of the sheer joy with which he plays and the pleasure that he brings to the listener. Listening to Jones’ latest as a leader, For My Father, one cannot help but be aware that one is in the presence of sheer sophistication. Jones and his cohorts, George Mraz and Dennis Mackrel, bring new enthusiasm to well worn pieces of the jazz piano repertoire such as “Bemsha Swing,” “Softly As In a Morning Sunrise,” and “Sophisticated Lady” as well as enticing the listener to check out more obscure fare like Al Foster’s “Paulette” or Milt Jackson’s “SKJ.”

Jones doesn’t need to dazzle us with his technique because he not only knows these songs cold, he has a deep seated understanding of them and a real affinity for them, and so do all the members of this trio. One has to listen to Jones play in order to understand that this affinity means everything in terms of the relationship between listener and performer. Those who expect a lot of fireworks from their pianists may miss some of Jones’ appeal, but to those who prefer a more gentle and affable approach, For My Father is a real treat.

The core of this CD is a set of Ellington-Strayhorn compositions that really allow Jones to display his gift for melody while demonstrating his harmonic mastery of them at the same time. “Sophisticated Lady,” a beautiful tune that has been reduced to pap by more lounge pianists and new age dabblers than one cares to think about, is reworked just enough for Jones to put his stamp on it, but the performance rings with the polish of Ellington himself. “Johnny Come Lately” swings easily, almost lazily, but there’s nothing lazy about the matter-of-fact way that Jones rolls the phrases of his solo off in a relaxed fashion worthy of Lester Young himself. “Prelude to a Kiss” and “Lotus Blossom” completes the Ellington portion of the program, but not the sophisticated, subtle performances of these master musicians. For My Father goes out highly recommended to all young jazz pianists—let the grace and elegance of Jones’ presentation here be your guide as you grow and progress as a musician.

Roger Kellaway is a pianist’s pianist, but he is certainly able to play in a manner that pleases the lay listener as well. Not long ago he released the solo piano CD I Was There, which was a tribute to Bobby Darin just as his current trio release, Remembering Bobby Darin, is. Kellaway’s trio is made up of Kellaway, guitarist Bruce Forman, and bassist Dan Lutz. The lack of bass allows the group to be light, which fits well with Kellaway’s relaxed style, but the results are anything but listless. The jauntiness of “Up a Lazy River” and “I’ve Found a New Baby” will have most any listener smiling and tapping his or her foot.

Mellower tunes like Jobim’s “Meditation” are perfectly served by Kellaway’s smooth, tranquil style. Guitarist Forman provides the right balance of comping, accenting, and can turn in a really nice solo when called upon to do so. Lutz provides the grounding for the group, but makes his prescence felt in other, more subtle ways as well. For example, the sound of his strings slapping against the fretboard provides some sense of percussion on “Meditation.”

Kellaway and the trio tackle some of Darrin’s best known tunes here, including “Splish Splash,” which is treated as a rocking boogie, “Beyond the Sea,” on which we get Ramsey Lewis-like blues flourishes combined with some two-fisted block chord sequences, and “Mack the Knife.” The famous Brecht/Weill composition begins with the sound of a scratching recording being played, which features Kellaway playing what sounds like a toy piano over an oompah bass figure, before the whole thing segues into a Django swing piece with Kellaway, Forman, and Lutz playing what almost seems like counterpoint until, almost halfway through, the thing finally kicks into le jazz hot overdrive.

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