Pianist Michael McNeill releases his debut CD as a leader, with renowned improvisers Ken Filiano (bass) and Phillip Haynes (drums). The disc features five of McNeill's original compositions, performed live in Buffalo, NY in December 2010. Buffalo engineer Bill Sack recorded the concert, and Jon Rosenberg provided the mixing and mastering. CDs and digital downloads may be ordered through BandCamp, where you can also listen to three of the five tracks in their entirety.
Some comments from the pianist/composer:
Most of the music on the CD is “open" in one way or another—"Hold On" eventually gets to a set of chord changes (though the lengths of most are not specified); “Nobody's Waltz," “Metropolis," and “Exit Now" had no pre-determined structure for the improvisations. (On “I'm OK Now" we play on the form of the melody.) Nevertheless, what excited me so much about our performances on this disc is that we always kept the elements of the underlying compositions in sight. In the midst of so many spontaneous discoveries, we stayed true to the language of each tune.
Some comments from the pianist/composer:
Most of the music on the CD is “open" in one way or another—"Hold On" eventually gets to a set of chord changes (though the lengths of most are not specified); “Nobody's Waltz," “Metropolis," and “Exit Now" had no pre-determined structure for the improvisations. (On “I'm OK Now" we play on the form of the melody.) Nevertheless, what excited me so much about our performances on this disc is that we always kept the elements of the underlying compositions in sight. In the midst of so many spontaneous discoveries, we stayed true to the language of each tune.
