CD Review: Andy Ezrin, "I Was Here"

 

The title of Andy Ezrin's new CD, "I Was Here" was picked because Andy Ezrin was a prodigy on Piano since childhood.  When other boys were saving up for Strats and collecting Hendrix recordings, Ezrin was already in love with the Piano.  His first professional gig was at the age of 12, and with the advantage of starting his learning career so young, he was able to listen and acquire musical knowledge with many different schools of music provided by major Jazz players like Andre Previn, Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarrett and the Fusion years players like George Benson and Herbie Hancock.  He learned his lessons well as you will hear on "I Was There" where Ezrin showcases not only his playing skills but also his brilliance in composing.  Ezrin composed the 13 songs on this CD.  The playing and the composing of Ezrin's music is outstanding.  Sometimes when listening to new music,  it requires hearing it more than once before you can understand the greatness of the composing.  Not with Ezrin's compositions; while they possess tenderness they also project happiness that allow the listener to assimilate the music at first hearing.  

"I Was There" is a powerhouse of Jazz music!  I would like to share some of the promotion notes written by Adam Gopnik that were given to me with this CD because they are so wonderful and so true.  "No Instrument in Jazz has been more fertile, adaptable and misleadingly evasive than the piano.  The most workaday of all instruments-the lectern or drawing board where musicians teach, singers learn, songs get composed, recomposed, arranged and rearranged.  It has also been the place of the most sublime flights into personal ecstasy, as with Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett.  The Piano also displays the most virtuosic technique as with Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson, or the place of the most profound pure thoughts in Jazz, as with Bud Powell, Lenny Tristano and John Lewis."  These wonderfully written words were prompted after listening to the music of Andy Ezrin.   

PLAYERS:

Andy Ezrin- Piano, Rhodes, Compositions, Arrangement, Leader

Randy Brecker- Trumpet

Donny McCaslin- Tenor Sax

John Patitucci- Bass

Marcus Gilmore- Drums

Ari Hoenig- Drums

PLAYLIST:

1. Grapes

2. This Is What It Is

3. Greenwoman

4. Luna

5. Siren Song

6. Snowfall

7. Ain't That Some Shit

8. If I Don't See You

9. Wiggle Room

10. Never Enough

11. I'm Runnin' Outta Time

12. Lost Days

13.. Cascades- Andy Exrin Solo

    

                                                                            "I Was There"

"Never Enough"

 

CD Review: Craig Davis, "Tone Paintings"

 Pianist Craig Davis is a major player in the Pittsburgh Jazz scene.  He recently released his new CD, "Tone Paintings: The Music of Dodo Marmarosa". Dodo Marmarosa was a major performer in the 1940s and was compared to the giants of bebop pianists like Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk.  He worked in bands led by most of the major swing-era bandleaders, including Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa and Artie Shaw.  He worked with legendary musicians including Lester Young, Barney Kessel, Lionel Hampton, Slim Gaillard and Mel Torme.  But things changed quickly by the end of the decade for Marmarosa due to health reasons and he became a near recluse for much of the rest of his life 

 Craig Davis has been on a mission to raise Dodo's profile in Jazz history.  Both Davis and Marmarosa perform by blending both classical influences and progressive Jazz into one voice.  On his new album,  Davis offers his beautiful interpretations to ten classic Marmarosa tunes as well as a new song he wrote dedicated to Marmarosa.  Davis explains "Dodo's story really resonated with me because he was such an enigmatic figure.  He never got the recognition he deserved beyond having a flurry of fame in the forties.  I thought maybe I could help bring his music to light".  Davis goes on to say "We share similar stylistic interests.  I love bebop and of course he was a bebop innovator, and we're both classically trained and bring those influences to our music. He also tried to push the art form forward a little bit and not just kind of settle on what was popular. Dorsey didn't like him because he was too progressive, but Artie Shaw loved it.  All the music on this CD is musically beautiful! 

Davis brought two of the finest musicians in modern Jazz today to join him,  John Clayton one of the most accomplished Bass players in Jazz history and Jeff Hamilton one of the tecnically proficient Drummers in the Jazz world.  I am sure most of you are more than familar with John and Jeff and know that if they agree to participate in a new CD, it will always produce great sounds.  

I found two cuts from the CD on "YouTube" for your listening pleasure.  The first is "Dodo's Bounce" which gives both Clayton and Hamilton a lot of room to show their stuff.  The second one is "Mellow Mood" a song written by Marmarosa when he was 14 years old.

                                                                  "Dodo's Bounce"

                                                                   "Mellow Mood"

Playlist:

1. Mellow Mood

2. Dodo's Bounce

3. Dodo's Blues

4. Escape

5. A Ditty For Dodo

6. Opus No. 5

7. Compadoo

8. Dary Departs

9. Tone Paintings

10. Battle of the Balcony Jive

11. Dodo's Lament

Players:

Piano-Craig Davis

Bass-John Clayton

Drums-Jeff Hamilton