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Jon Mayer: Nightscape
ByAs with Mayer's previous albums as a leader, this is a trio recording, the pianist reprising the line-up from his last release, So Many Stars (Reservoir Music, 2007), with drummer Roy McCurdy and longtime collaborator/bassist Rufus Reid. The trio comprises all exceptional musicians and their empathy is apparent throughout the album. Sound quality is excellent, with Mayer's upper register playing and McCurdy's cymbals coming across particularly clearly, although on occasions the bass, whether from Mayer's piano or Reid's upright, deserves to be higher in the mix.
Mayer has chosen an inspired combination of tunes, from the Great American Songbook, compositions of past jazz masters (such as Horace Silver's "Room 608"), and two of his own compositions"Nightscape," a delicate ballad, and "Blues Junction," a straight-ahead blues featuring a melodic solo from Reid. Taken together this selection creates a mix of the familiar and the not-so-familiar that enables the musicians to bring fresh ideas to well-established tunes as well as adding something new to the canon.
The trio's treatment of the best known composition on the album, Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz's "Dancing in the Dark," demonstrates in exemplary style how Mayer can arrange and perform a familiar tune and bring new insights and approaches to it. Mayer's interpretation offers enough variation to keep the tune fresh without losing the essence of its beautiful melody. Initially Mayer simplifies the melodyan inspired move which creates space and calm in the playingbefore he moves into a fine solo, driven by McCurdy's delicate and sympathetic brush work. Reid is also sparing with his notes, enhancing the sense of space, before he takes his own brief but effective solo.
Mayer's arrangement of Harold Land's "Rapture" is exquisite. The tune is played at a slightly faster tempo than Land's original version, with Mayer and Reid sharing the central eight-note bass and piano theme before Mayer takes off with a genuinely lovely solo, underpinned by Reid's continuation of the opening theme and by McCurdy's inventive but never intrusive percussion. While the other tunes have their own strengths, this is the standout track to Nightscapea delightful recording full of invention and inspiration.
Track Listing
The Touch of Your Lips; Blues Junction; Day by Day; Nightscape; Rapture; Room 608; Dancing in the Dark; Bohemia After Dark; Theme for Ernie; Once I Loved; So in Love.
Personnel
Jon Mayer
pianoJon Mayer: piano; Rufus Reid: bass; Roy McCurdy: drums.
Album information
Title: Nightscape | Year Released: 2009 | Record Label: Reservoir Music
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