Home » Jazz Articles » Multiple Reviews » Solo European Piano: Bruno Angelini, Stefano Bollani, Jo...

149

Solo European Piano: Bruno Angelini, Stefano Bollani, John Wolf Brennan and Irene Schweizer

By

Sign in to view read count








Bruno Angelini
Never Alone
Minium
2006


Stefano Bollani
Piano Solo
ECM
2006


John Wolf Brennan
Pictures In A Gallery - Solo Piano
Leo
2006


Irene Schweizer
First Choice - Piano Solo KKL Luzern
Intakt
2006




Americans might ask: "Which American forebears impress European jazz pianists most? Answers are complex. Monk, Mal Waldron, Don Pullen and Ran Blake are likely to supply resonating conceptual echoes. Influences are rife, copycats few!

Bruno Angelini's clanging bells on "Immersion from Never Alone grabs attention, but then he chills with well-modulated standards. He meditates on the spareness of "Laura not unlike Ran Blake, later channeling Mal Waldron's intense sense of solitude in "Lover Man and "Left Alone . He de-gospelizes "Motherless Child as avant guardia, dries out "Summertime with rising left hand arpeggios and denatures "Sunny Gets Blue with countrified octaves and Jarrett-esque hammered block-chords.

Stefano Bollani's ineffable melodicism on Piano Solo stands tall and quiet if strong; his force with a light, firm touch invariably unfolds with a slightly diffident poise. Pop song "Antonia opens as quiet etude and two improvisations walk soft with a heavy stick. "For All We Know opens in spare Chopin harmonies but gathers up heavy cloak-folds, while the fadeaway "Don't Talk sighs deep like a nocturne. "Promenade gently (yet not whimsically) tosses about Poulenc bi-tonal lines, then rolls out ruminating fancies. "Impro III teeters a moto perpetuo as if on 'prepared' piano stilts. Bollani reinvents his old jazz masters in sleek conservatory versions. His Joplin rag gradually gathers wisps into a fairly straight ending, "Buzzilare gently rumbles a quasi-Fats left hand and "Miss New Orleans freely ruminates like a kinder, sandpapered Fatha Hines. Bollani's loosening up of formal constraints never rambles too far out, too loud (at most mezzo forte) or too long (just 3 of 16 tracks top 5 minutes) to keep us grasping for more.

John Wolf Brennan shows a composer's ear for painting in 'action compositions' on site in Lucerne's Rosengart Museum with Pictures in a Gallery. His self-duets use prepared piano (plugs, clips, dampers) and plucked strings (like Henry Cowell in The Banshee) to recreate wonderfully bizarre visual effects. Set framers, sauntering post-Debussy excursions á la Petrouchka, also frame rooms full of 'canvases' by latter-day (neo-cubist) Picasso and the ever droll and elusive Paul Klee. Tactile touches and sforzando daubs depict the act of painting. Brennan's "Candy'n Sky celebrates Wassily Kandinsky's unquiet assortment of "Multiple Forms with soundboard taps and harpsichord-like strums in a rumbling dance of shapes and shadows. Later he turns to a Pushkin poem set in a St. Petersburg concert.

Schweizer's nimble touch and airy style makes her lengthy, pointillist excursions throughout First Choice breezy and graceful. She flits her way through the title suite (its 20 minutes flew by) and lilts charmingly even when making thorny points (chromatic Bley-like turnarounds in "Hall of Fame ) and holds our interest through quizzical call-and-response (right vs. left), calling up bell-like clarity at all times. The middle of the concert dries out a tad with static, string-plucking short pieces. Schweizer knows her audience and plays free and easily for them, bringing down the house with two snappy, short encores (Monk's full-bodied "Oska T. and Don Cherry's ruminative "Jungle Beats II .)


Tracks and Personnel

Never Alone

Tracks: Porgy and Bess; Miroirs; Cantopiano; Never Alone; Tentatives; No Choice; Entropie; L'Incible; Prima O Poi.

Personnel: Bruno Angelini: piano.

Piano Solo

Tracks: Antonia; Impro i; Impro ii; Impro on a theme by Sergey Prokofiev; Promenade; Impro iii; A Media Luz; Impro iv; Buzzilare; Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?; Como Fue; On the street where you Live; Maple Leaf Rag; Sarcasmi; Don't Talk.

Personnel: Stefano Bollani: piano.

Pictures In A Gallery - Solo Piano

Tracks:

Personnel: John Wolf Brennan: piano.

First Choice - Piano Solo KKL Luzern

Tracks: First Choice; Into The Hall Of Fame; The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe; Scratching At The KKL; The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Piano Player; Oska T.; Jungle Beats II.

Personnel: Irene Schweizer: piano.

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.
View events near New York City
Jazz Near New York City
Events Guide | Venue Guide | Local Businesses | More...

More

Sensual
Rachel Z
Over and Over
Tony Monaco Trio
Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.