JAZZ PIANO TRIO ROUNDUP
Jessica Williams/Live At Yoshi's V. 1 & 2, Mulgrew Miller/Live At Yoshi's V. 1 & 2

<<Bill Mays, Hank Jones, and Roger Kellaway

The MaxJazz Piano Series has seen some great releases from a variety of jazz pianists, with recent releases by three artists in particular commanding attention. Jessica Williams, Mulgrew Miller, and Danny Zeitlin are all accomplished musicians worthy of the attention of legions of listeners.

Jessica Williams is one of the finest living jazz pianists around, a fact that is only known by those who are devoted to the music in the first place. Williams is truly independent, tending to live away from the main musical centers of the United States and refusing to compromise her artistic standards in order to merely record and release albums. Despite this, Williams has amassed an impressive discography over the thirty years or so that she’s been recorded as a leader.

Like Bill Mays and Hank Jones, Williams brings a high level of sophistication and class to her playing. She is somewhat more forceful than either of these other pianists, however, her influences running more in the direction of Monk, McCoy Tyner, and Duke Ellington than the Bill Evans school. In addition, Williams is almost impossibly well-versed in the history of jazz and popular music and can bring all kinds of random thoughts to bear on her improvisations. Bits of classical melodies, popular musical themes, and quotes from “Salt Peanuts” or a Monk tune might easily find their way into her interpretation of a standard piece. But Williams’ mastery is such that these quotes and whims never seem forced or even pre-planned, but seem to arise organically out of her improvisational thought processes.

Williams has a thorough mastery of piano technique, so that her every phrase, no matter how rapid or how convoluted, sounds completely effortless. On Volume One of Live at Yoshi’s, recorded in 2003 and released in 2004, she and her trio take on a series of standards, including “I’m Confessin’ That I Love You,” “Say It Over and Over Again,” “You Say You Care,” “I Want to Talk About You,” and “Mysterioso” as well as Billy Cobham’s “Heather” and two Williams originals, “Tutu’s Promise” and “Poem In G Minor.” Jessica’s sense of humor emerges almost immediately, with quotations aplenty on “I’m Confessin’ That I Love You.” The trio, composed of bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Victor Lewis, both of whom have been playing with Williams for some time now, is like an extension of Williams, as though all the musicians were operating from one brain.

Williams is a fine composer, as evidenced by the work here as well as on Volume Two (just released this year), where more of her original work is featured. “Tutu’s Promise” features a funky bass line and Williams does a lot of work with muting the piano strings for a clipped, percussive sound. After the grandeur and swing of the opening three standards, it is an unexpectedly funky outing that serves the listener notice that Williams is a cutting edge musician who may play acoustic piano in a mainstream jazz trio, but who is unlimited in her ability to express herself through the keyboard. Again, young pianists would do well to listen to Williams, who moves from a funky vibe to the middle section of the piece, a bluesy New Orleans funeral dirge, without so much as blinking an eye.

Volume Two is no less impressive, begninng with a beautifully-realized reading of Miles Davis’ “Flamenco Sketches.” There are four Williams originals on this disc, from the gorgeous balladry of “Spoken Softly” to the playfully Monkish “Elbow Room” to the Spanish-tinged “Soldaji” to the light as raindrops “Dear Gaylord.” She closes out with first a stride-influenced “Lulu’s Back In Town” that raises the roof before finishing up with an inspired rendition of the over-played Gershwin classic “Summertime.” Williams’ two Yoshi’s discs are among the finest piano jazz recordings released over the last several years, and kudos are due to MaxJazz for recording this fantastic musician so well over the last few years.

Greenwood, Mississippi native Mulgrew Miller is the youngest of the pianists discussed thus far, and seemingly the most directly rooted in the blues. Miller absorbed all the music he could find while growing up, though it was hearing an Oscar Peterson recording that gave him focus for his musical aspirations. Following time as a sideman with Art Blakey, Woody Shaw, and Betty Carter, Miller spent the 1990s recording both as a leader and playing with a variety of jazz musicians and singers, honing his skills and learning along the way. He’s recorded for MaxJazz both with his group Wingspan and with his trio, as heard on his Live at Yoshi’s Volume One and Two releases.

Miller and his trio, comprised of bassist Derrick Hodge and drummer Karriem Riggins, come out of the gate with a sharp reading of “If I Were a Bell.” Miller and Hodge keep things going as a duet for nearly the first two minutes before Riggins comes in with a light but powerful touch. The group’s energy level is high, and the listener is easily drawn into Miller’s affable musical world. Other standout performances on Volume One include Jobim’s “O Grande Amor,” an aggressive take on Woody Shaw’s “The Organ Grinder,” Horace Silver’s “Peace” (which features a beautiful, meditative solo introduction by Miller), and a slow but swinging rendition of “What a Difference a Day Makes.” Miller ends Volume One with his own composition, “Pressing The Issue,” which uses a vamp somewhat reminiscent of Ellington’s “Caravan” before exploding into its own bag. Miller plays a hot solo here, and Riggins gets solo time as well.

Volume Two opens with the Victor Feldman composition “Joshua,” here taken at a nice clip by the trio, with emphasis on Miller’s strong left hand. “Comes Love” again makes use of a swirling piano introduction before locking into the Latin beat that becomes the basis for the song itself. Miller covers two songs by musicians who served as friends and mentors. Pianist James Williams, who passed away between the time this CD was recorded and its recent release, is represented by his piece “Road Life,” which Miller infuses with the blues and on which the trio swings fiercely. The other is Tony Williams
, in whose group Miller played for six years. Williams’ “Citadel” is a well-known composition, and Miller puts his own stamp on it to round out the proceedings. Miller demonstrates the influence of players like Wynton Kelly, Ahmad Jamal, and Oscar Peterson, and is a bit heavier at the piano than Jessica Williams. Like her Live At Yoshi’s releases, Miller’s are a must-have for anyone with a serious love of jazz piano trio.

Bill Mays, Hank Jones, Jessica Williams, Mulgrew Miller, and Roger Kellaway prove that, even without covering modern pop music or kicking your piano, there’s plenty of life left in the old jazz piano trio.