The Kenny Werner Trio Explores The Melody

Kenny Werner The Melody Pirouet PIT 3083

There is something magical about a fine piano trio. When musicians are in sync it is amazing how communicative three pieces can be.  When you have the lyrically imaginative leader Kenny Werner on the keys there is no telling where his fertile imagination will lead you. On Werner’s latest The Melody, he is joined in perfect harmony by Johannes Weidenmueller on bass and Ari Hoenig on drums and between the three of them they create an exquisite exploration of what it is to be enraptured by melody in its many enduring forms.

Mr. Werner starts with a wonderfully sensitive rumination on the popular song “Try to Remember” from the 1960 Broadway musical “The Fantastiks.”  He sets the tone showing us the inner beauty of his take on the sentiment before he reveals the actual melody first playing it as a soft lullaby and then letting  it breathe, expanding into a more expansive swings and swaggers at times. Mr. Hoenig and Mr. Weidenmueller are not so much a rhythm section as color commentators painting the song with their own subtle pastels and warm tones.

Mr. Werner is no stranger to composition and here he offers four separate tunes of his own. The first “Who?” is a jagged, rhythmic affair that uses a repeated motif as the basis on which to explore.  The trio seems to intuit the shifts in time with easy aplomb with Mr. Weidenmueller keeping the motif alive throughout. Mr. Werner’s touch is a joy of restraint and delicacy as he moves around the motif with dance-like style

“Balloons,” another Werner original, has a light, airy introduction on solo piano before entering into its captivating melodic core. The theme has a child-like, wanderlust quality to its gentle theme expertly played with wrenching sensitivity. A probing bass solo by Mr. Weidenmueller elicits images of a dance of wood sprites in a hidden forest.  

John Coltrane’s “26-2” is given a jaunty rendering that is probably the most formidable demonstration of how in sync this trio is. The three wind and weave their way through the changes in perfect time, a celebration of one minded playing.  Hoenig’s traps and Weidenmueller’s bass mimicking the same line as Werner’s piano lead, a celebration of symbiosis. Werner’s lead is always perfectly logical but surprisingly unexpected in a sage kind of way. Hoenig offers a syncopated drum solo that is tasteful and unflashy.

Werner returns with another of his own compositions” Voncify The Emulyans.” The composition moves through a series of cadenced vignettes, where Hoenig’s military traps seem to set the pace as Werner’s pianistic overtures find varied directions. The tempo is often changed and the melodic content is hard to follow but the overall effect is of exploratory rumination.  The ending is a gorgeous slow fade on the theme.

Dave Brubeck is an artist whose work seems to have found few followers. Here Werner starts “In You Own Sweet Way” in a decidedly different way. The pianist creates an intro that has a disjointed mechanistic sound which he carries with some dissonance throughout the piece, normally a straight ahead sweet melody. When the trio get down to the melody they do so with a creative flair that employs some swing some syncopation and some style. Werner plays with the melody at times including some quotes from Bernstein. The group prances at different paces throughout the song in a facile display of how different rhythms could dramatically affect the way a song is perceived.  

The album ends with Werner’s “Beauty Secrets” with his solo intro played as a beautiful piano adagio. Werner is one of the most expressive pianists on the scene today and his touch and sense of poignancy is unmatched here.  The texture of Hoenig’s stick and cymbal work is the precise compliment to Weidenmueller’s anchored bass and Werner’s lyrical playing. There is an Americana flavor ala Greensleeves to this one that is very moving.

There is something very beautiful and unpretentious about The Melody and Mr. Werner, Mr. Weidenmuller and Mr. Hoenig have a collectively made listening to it a joy.

Pianist Markus Burger's : Accidental Tourists The L.A. Sessions

Accidental Tourist: The L.A. Sessions CR 73332

German expatriate Markus Burger is a new name to me, but if his latest album Accidental Tourists : The L.A. Sessions   is any indication he has won me over as a fan. The pianist has assemble a top notch trio that includes former Bill Evans drummer Joe Labarbera and the big and beautiful bass of    

Bob Magnusson a studio musician who worked with saxophone legend Art Pepper. Burger currently teaches in the Los Angeles area. His bio information indicates that he acknowledges wide ranging influences from Bach and Debussy to Thelonious Monk and Stevie Wonder.

On the opening composition ”Grolnicks,”  a dedication to the late pianist Don Grolnick, Burger establishes an immediate connection to his listener with the song’s inviting melody line, played at first solo and then breezily in conjunction with his tasteful collaborators. Bob Magnusson’s honey toned bass solo is a welcome surprise as it is quickly introduced with a conviction and fullness that reminds me of Red Mitchell’s masterful sound and attack. Drummer Joe Labarbera sets the pace with his masterful brushwork. Burger’s piano has a welcoming and buoyant sound that draws you into this wonderful collaboration.

“Air Canada” has a lilting feel that reminds me of some of Pat Metheny’ s earlier work with pianist Lyle Mays. It is a hopeful song that is energized by Burger’s light and dancing right hand lines and propelled by Magnusson’s deep and prominently featured bass lines. Labarbera reminds us how good and subtle he can be  at creating a breezily swinging rhythm with minimal fanfare or bluster.

Burger uses the repeating ascending and descending lines of his composition “Black Sea Pearl” to create a sense of poignancy. The trio moves up and down in tandem as Burger creates interesting offshoots to the otherwise predictable ostinato pattern in the song.

“Full Circle” begins in an almost solemn, contemplative refrain. Burger impressionistically establishes the circularly repeating melody line. Magnusson’s bass anchors strong and clear, the perfect counterpoint to Burger’s probings outside the self created orbit. Magnusson’s bass becomes a beacon of sound that emanates from the center of this crafted circle with his warm, precise tone..Labarbera adds to the circular theme of the song with his whirling traps and his whooshing cymbal work.

The Gershwin classic “I Love You Porgy,” is rendered in the most sensitive of ways by Burger’s soulful playing. Magnusson’s evocative solo is a highlight. The bassist’s  ability to carry the melody with his warm, deep tone and evocative feeling is a joy to behold. Burger, inspired here by his deft partners, creates a cascading solo that is both inventive and moving.

With the title of the album reference to Los Angeles, it’s no surprise to hear the west coast influence peppered through  this offering. Two songs that seem to draw inspiration from the early trio work of the late great LA based pianist Hampton Hawes are the swinging “Rodeo Drive Hustler” and the quirky, rollicking “Inspector Bauton”. The quick paced repeating lines are played effervescently with great swinging support by Labarbera and Magnusson. Both tunes have that easy, effortless mastery of rambunctious swing that Hawes work epitomized. It is good to hear a boisterous drum solo from Labarbera who is a master of brushes and rarely lets loose on his traps.

Perhaps one of the most beautiful songs on the album is the trio’s stirring rendition of “The Old Country,” a song always identified with  Nancy Wilson’s great work with Nat and Cannonball Adderley. Burger uses the armature of the melody to weave his own rich tapestry from this emotionally thick song. Magnusson is once again brilliant in using his facile bass lines to create pathos. His rounded, romantic sound and his counterpoint lines at the coda are both superbly chosen and sublimely executed.

The magnificent Evans composition “Blue and Green” is always a favorite of piano trios and here  Burger uses Evans-like voicings in his opening that eventually give way to explorations that are reminiscent of Keith Jarrett's work. Burger’s fertile imagination is prodded by gentle bent notes from Magnusson’s bass and slowly built up urgency in Labarbera’s traps. It is a wonderful display of true sympathetic trio interaction. Magnusson’s bass solo is  remarkably facile as he shifts from rapidly executed pizzicato  to slowly sustained bent notes that flow like melting butter on warm toast.

The album ends with two songs one by Thomas Hoft titled “One World”  and the finale a Burger composition titled “Morning Smile.”

Markus Burger has managed to pleasantly surprise with Accidental Tourists: The L.A. Sessions.  The album continues to be capture attention even after  repeated listenings. Burger is a player who has absorbed some of the best influences of contemporary and classical music. His musical choice of materials from the standards repertoire is  astute and his compositions like “Grolnicks” and “Full Circle” show promise. It is the sympathetic whole of this trio that is the real find here. Together with Magnusson and Labarbera, Burger has hit upon a trio that can challenge the best on  the contemporary music scene. Accident's do happen and sometimes they produce marvelous results, my hope is that this is no accident and that the Markus Burger Trio continue to work together to explore the endless possibilities.