Larry Goldings and his Piano Trio Live at Sam First : "I Will"

Larry Goldings and his trio : I Will: Live at Sam First: Sam First Records

The musician Larry Goldings recorded a piano trio performance when he played at the Los Angeles Club, Sam First , back in October of 2023. The Album, I Will, was released by Sam First Records on Valentine's Day February 14, 2025 and features Goldings on piano, Karl McComas-Reichl on upright bass and Christian Euan on drums. This "live" album was excellently recorded and a superb capture of Goldings at some of his most creative on piano. Careful listening of his piano work make clear that Goldings, despite his reign as one of the time's most revered player of electronic keyboards and particularly the B3 organ, is also one of the most eclectically inspired and harmonically imaginative piano minds of this era.

Larry Goldings, Karl McComas-Reichl, Christian Euman (photo credit unknown)  

Interestingly, I last heard Larry Goldings within days of his recording of this album in Los Angeles back in October of 2023. In the performance I attended at Portland's 1905 jazz club, Goldings was on organ and playing with his excellent  long-time organ trio mates Peter Bernstein on guitar and Bill Stewart on drums. The show was fantastic and for those who have an interest you can read that review by clicking here.

Goldings' has a sterling reputation as an innovative organ and keyboard master who has worked with such diverse artists as Rickie Lee Jones, Maceo Parker, James Taylor, Norah Jones, John Scofield and Steely Dan to name just a few. He developed his fascination with the organ from his additional interest in playing a walking, left-handed piano bass line, vis-à-vis his influence from the pianist Dave McKenna- with the man's facility to left-hand walking bass like no other.

I am familiar with Goldings' solo piano work from his excellent piano solo album from 2011, In My Room. Goldings' unique ability to mine such expressiveness from slightly obscure gems like Brian Wilson's beautifully reflective "In My Room," Rod Argent from the Zombie's haunting "A Rose for Emily," and even the well worn Beatles' "Here, There and Everywhere" among others are fertile material for the pianist to open up other musical revitalizing possibilities.

On I Will, Goldings has brought together another astute selection of songs that reinforce the artists eclectic taste in music. The album starts off with his own composition "Roach," which he reprised from his previous solo album In My Room. The song is a homage of sorts to the style of drummer icon Max Roach. In comparing the two versions, one can hear Goldings predominant left handed bass line that drives the song in the original recording. In the latest take, Goldings reintroduces this slightly skewed bluesy composition and opens with that groove, this time accentuated by what sounds like some creative abrasion of the cymbal rim by Euman for percussive effect. Goldings pianistic walking bas line is now reinforced by McComas-Reichl's probing upright bass and Euman's exploring percussion. The freedom of having this intuitive rhythm section carry the groove load seems to release the inventive Goldings to his own devices. He adds more dissonant surprises, adds interesting harmonic possibilities to his playing and adds rhythmic variations to spice things up. This version adds interesting embellishments by Goldings and creative accompaniment by his talented bandmates that make the set more adventurous, unpredictable and rewarding.

Goldings' chosen repertoire for this album is another peek into just how diverse this man's musical background has been, He takes Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So" from the famous folk-opera "Porgy and Bess," and he and his trio use the melody almost like an artist uses a pencil sketch on empty canvas that is transformed into a colorful masterpiece. These guys have a symbiotic relationship and it is most clearly demonstrated on this particular performance. The communication is almost telepathic and the trio injects a modern perspective and some vital energy into this weathered classic. Goldings' Shearing-like block chording and his musical humor at the coda is a treat.

The Beatles' compositions, in this case a McCartney tune, "I Will", are often vehicles that Goldings uses to see what can be further crafted. On this one, the pianist almost broods over the fetching melody. He extracts meaning from the essence of the love song's message, always being there for someone. His piano bobs and weaves around the melody as his is conversationally accompanied by the buoyant bass of  McComas-Reichl. 

The repertoire continues to throw you a curve ball, this time with Mario Bausa's "Mambo Inn." Opening this one with Euman's syncopated drum work, the group creates a breezy flow that immediately brings your feet into the action as the Afro-Cuban rhythm unfolds. There is a joy in the pianist's hands and it is pure delight. Bassist  McComas-Reichl offers a plucky, facile bass solo that resonates with authority. Euman is equally rhythmically engaged in creating this musical vacation to the tropics. Grab an umbrella drink and enjoy.

"Embraceable You," another number from Gershwin, is a song that Goldings reprised from his Awareness album released in 1996. That album matched Goldings on piano with bassist Larry Grenadier and the iconic drum legend Paul Motian. On this latest take, Goldings meanders at the intro, probing, establishing  direction and determining the right time before introducing the recognizable melody. McComas-Reichl and Euman find equal time to explore the rhythmic and harmonic possibilities along with Larry, a little outside but never too far from the structure of the music. Goldings' pianistic approach is like a wellspring of variations that he creates on stage and in real time and he has the chops to pull off anything that his mind can percolate. His music has an inherently organic feel to it, and his audience at Sam First were rewarded by his unfettered imagination.

"Jasus Was A Cross Maker" is a composition by singer/songwriter Judee Sill from back in 1971. The song was inspired by Sill having read a fictionized novel about Jesus being a carpenter who built crosses that the Roman's used for crucifixions. Despite the preposterous storyline the music has an Americana feel to it with Goldings using a honky-tonk-like piano approach that delves into a gospel influenced sound to great effect. McComas-Reichl offers an inventive bass solo that seems to support the redemptive aspects of the music.

Goldings preferences on music can sometimes include his love of pop and showtime music. On Leonard Bernstein's uplifting "Somewhere" from the maestro's musical hit West Side Story is wonderfully portrayed by the trio. There is pathos and hope in this music. Goldings mines the emotional aspects of this fetching tale with some gorgeous ornamentation and dramatic chordal work in his playing.

The closing composition is a Goldings' original titled "Sing Song." The music has a repeating, simple, sing-song melody that evokes a child-like fairy tale theme quality. But Goldings is also a humorist, just ask his alter-ego "Hans Groiner," an Austrian musicologist that sometimes raises his head at some of Goldings' appearances. The approach to this music is a bit misleading. Like the master of hip humor Thelonious Monk, who used to add his tongue-in-cheek lines to songs like his "Boo Boo's Birthday" or his "Little Rootie Tootie," Goldings is equally adept at inserting humorous lines into complex musical compositions. First with the repeating, simple melody, then he slowly reveals his skills as he builds a dynamic, multi-layered composition that is anything but pedestrian. The audience loves being let in on this inside joke.

I Will is the kind of album that really engages the listener. If you spend the time to really listen, you will be rewarded on multiple levels by the magical pianist's incredible inventiveness and joy.

 

The Hazelrigg Brothers Take on the New American Songbook: "Songs We Like"

The Hazelrigg Brothers Songs We Like

For those who think that the Great American songbook is limited to the works of Porter, Berlin, Gershwin, Kahn, et al, then they are stuck in a time warp. While there is no denying the durability and constant source of inspiration that canon has produced, many of us grew up with our own Great American songbook, forged from the music and lyrics of rock, soul and pop music of the sixties and seventies. It is no surprise that contemporary jazz musicians are finding many of these gems, songs that still hold an appeal to younger audiences born years after they were first played, to be a news source of inspiration and interesting vehicles for improvisation. Songs We Like, a recent release from the Hazelrigg Brothers, is a case in point.

Following in the footsteps of artists like the Bad Plus or Brad Mehldau, and more ambitious outings like John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet, pianist George Hazelrigg and brother bassist Geoff Hazelrigg along with the intuitive drummer John O’Reilly, Jr. have offered a thoroughly entertaining set of nine contemporary readings of some songs that seem to lend themselves naturally to creative interpretation in the jazz trio format.  

The compositions are as interesting as they are challenging. People who know the music well, often come to the music with expectations of how it should sound, but for the most part the Hazelriggs have managed to re-imagine these songs with enough fealty to the originals to satisfy even the most rabid purist. I found myself gleefully singing along with many of the tracks.

The songs run the gamut; chamber-rock from Jethro Tull, electric blues from Jimi Hendrix, Reggae-tinged pop from Men at Work, rock-jazz fusion from Steely Dan and contemporary pop from Sting; two from hard-metal rockers Led Zeppelin and one each from the classical composers Bela Bartok and Johann Fischer, makeup the slections.

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The repertoire is fresh and played in an inspired impressionistic way. Jethro Tull’s “Living in The Past,” with Geoff’s dancing bass line introduction peppered with some rhythmically delicious tom work by drummer Reilly leads the way.

The Australian group “Men at Work,” whose reggae-inspired beats captivated the airways in the seventies, is represented by lead singer Colin Hay’s “Catch a Star.” The trio captures a stripped-down feel of the song, while carrying on a dynamic conversation amongst themselves. The only thing that is missing is the Australian’s haunting voice.

The music of Jimi Hendrix, long an inspiration to generations, is represented here by the psychedelia inspired “If 6 Was 9.” Who could expect to top the guitarist’s electronic wizardry or the sheer power of his dazzling virtuosity, but the Hazelrigg’s wisely do not attempt either. They strip the repeating bass line to its rhythmic, heart-throbbing core. The song is rendered as the three-chord blues it is, with some improvisational forays: an interesting off-to-the-races break, a featured drum solo of restrained polyphony and some weaving bass lines make for this interesting take on a Hendrix classic.

Bartok’s magisterial “Evening in the Country” features some animated, articulate pianowork by brother George, shimmering cymbal work by the understated Reilly and the buoyant bass of brother Geoff.

The piano opening on Led Zeppelin’s “Ten Years Gone,” is immediately recognizable and although the music cannot be expected to be as explosive as the metallic, heavy guitar-drum-centric original, the trio still pulls it off admirably with some excellent piano work by brother George building to a satisfying climax in a rumble of sound and fury.

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen’s music, the music of Steely Dan, is perhaps the music most easily adaptable to the jazz piano trio format and here on their “King of the World” it fits these guys like a glove. Isn’t this the way it was always played?

The trio returns to the classical realm with Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer’s “Passacaglia, from the Daughters of Zeus, Urania,” a pastoral composition that somehow gives the brothers a chance to show how classics can be modernly molded to fit the program without seeming at all out of place.

Sting’s “Spirit in the Material World” is played allegro with bassist Geoff adding some walking bass lines and some brief Arco accents.  O’Reilly has a sixth sense as to what works when these two intuitive brothers build a head of steam.

The set ends with another Led Zeppelin composition, “What Is and What Should Never Be.”  The trio treating this as a slow shuffle.

Songs We Like is an engaging recording that never strays too far away from the basic melodies that made these songs from the sixties and seventies so likeable and memorable in the first place. What the Hazelrigg Brothers and Mr. O’Reilly have shown is that they can also be the springboard for some inventive re-interpretation.   

Aaron Diehl Trio plays the Velvet Note in Alpharetta, GA

Aaron Diehl, Paul Sikivie and Lawrence Feathers at the Velvet Note

If you bother to take the thirty-minute drive from downtown Atlanta or Decatur to a strip mall in Alpharetta you will be amply rewarded for your efforts. Located in a twenty-foot storefront at 4075 Old Milton Parkway, two doors from a barber shop, is perhaps the best jazz club in the greater Atlanta area.

The Velvet Note, Acoustic Living Room,  Alpharetta, GA

The Velvet Note was a wild dream of a club that started in 2011 with the notion that if you provide people with an intimate space, build into the space top quality acoustics, and feature the crème de la crème of jazz artists, people will come to hear the music. That music would be jazz in all its wonderful diversity. The idea of a successful jazz club seems to be an oxymoron, but manager Tamara Fuller has somehow seemed to make the concept work and work with style.

On Saturday March 26,2016 the featured artist was the great young piano phenom Aaron Diehl and his trio. The band featured Lawrence Feathers on drums and Paul Sikivie on upright bass. In speaking to Mr.  Feathers after the first set he told me the band has been together for about five years. As with any fine piano trio the symbiotic relationship between the three players is a must and this trio had no shortage of symbiosis, often stopping and starting magically like finely choreographed dancers in precise synchronization.

The first set started with the Benny Carter standard “When Lights Are Low.” Mr. Diehl is a dashing young man who almost looks like he could be a model for Armani suits. His playing is as elegant as his haberdashery and his bandmates were equally outfitted in suits and ties. Mr. Diehl is one of those players who, when he sits down at the keyboard, you know takes his art very seriously. He has beautiful facility with both hands which he displayed with unpretentious artifice. His touch can be as light as the most ruminative Bill Evans or as stride-full as Willie “The Lion” Smith. Mr. Sikivie’s plucky bass solo was a nice contrasting voice to Diehl’s thoughtful comping. Diehl also employed repeated two-handed block chord progressions that were very effective.

Aaron Diehl's Space Time Continuum Mack 1094

On his imagistic original “The Flux Capacitor,” from his latest album, Space Time Continuum, Diehl and company quicken the pace and supercharge the audience into the musical time warp. A representation of the excitement and fantastical delight of the Robert Zemekis Sci-fi Comedy Back to the Future from 1985. Diehl’s syncopated left hand creates a memorable ostinato against his probing right hand explorations. Sikivie and Feathers shuffle along at De Loren cruising speed. Mr. Feathers keeping the rapid pace with his ride cymbal, snare and fluttering hi-hat.

Back to the Future Promo Poster

An ardent student of the history of the music, what better way than to show us his own twenty-first century way of re-imagining Fats Waller’s 1942 composition “The Jitterbug Waltz.” Even those in the audience who didn’t know the name of the tune recognized the music’s sauntering melody. Diehl used the piece to produce beautifully flowing glissandi, maddeningly precise repeated motifs showcasing pianistic mastery that was a treat to behold. The trio performed as an organic whole as Diehl expanded on his improvisations around the core of the melody with ever more adventurous expansions. Diehl also used dynamics to great effect as he went form loud and tumultuous to soft and gentle and his whim dictated.  Mr. Sikivie played a particularly welcomed bass solo.

The gentle “Spring Can Really Hang You Up,” made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, was played as sensitive, almost reverential ballad. It is fascinating to watch Mr.  Diehl up close as he plays a ballad like this. His hands are so long and slender and he often settles them tentatively over the keys in anticipation of his next idea or chord, but in a way that makes you feel he himself is not sure where they may land next.He often has his head bowed and his eyes closed as he seems to be channeling the meaning of the song through its unspoken lyrics. A wonderfully evocative rendition.

Diehl and company played another of his originals “Broadway Boogie Woogie,” which he says was inspired by a painting by Mondrian. The song featured some nice solo trap work by Lawrence Feathers who leads the group into a bebop burner. Diehl seems comfortable with a myriad of styles from bebop to stride, hard bop to crossover.

Piet Mondrian's "Broadway Boogie Woogie"  1943

As if to demonstrate the breadth of the pianistic tradition, the group rolled right into Thelonious Monk’s staccato “Green Chimneys” and then onto Bud Powell’s frenzied “Un Poco Loco” both performed with astounding proficiency. Leathers stick and rim work on “Green Chimneys” was particularly impressive. This group can really run on high octane, pushed by Diehl’s fleet fingers, Sikivie’s relentlessly walking bass lines and Feathers subtle but driving trap work.

Diehl chose a song from the underrated pianist John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet fame, “Milano” to do his only solo piece of the first set.  This almost classically inspired piece of music is a miniature masterpiece of shimmering beauty. Diehl played the song at first with a sensitivity that Lewis would have admired, then broke into a stride-like saunter altering the mood from moody to magical.

The trio ended the set with a modal blues driven medley, sprinkled with tidbits of many famous jazz standards throughout which they played to a bustling ovation. Clearly Aaron Diehl is, as one patron put it “the real Diehl,” an elite pianist in a crowded field.  He has mastered a myriad of styles and has an abundance of ability. At age thirty we can look forward to a long and rewarding career from this excellent pianist.