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Greg Reitan: Post No Bills
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Los Angeles-based pianist/composer Greg Reitan's Some Other Time (Sunnyside Records) vied for the honors of "Debut of the Year" in 2009. Using his same triowith bassist Jack Daro and drummer Dean KobaReitan followed up that auspicious start with two more outstanding sets, Antibes (2010) and Daybreak (2011), both for the Sunnyside label.
With this same triothey have been together since 1996he has honed an elegant and polished sound, drawing on a Bill Evans influencethe light touch, subtle dynamics, translucent harmonic beauty. Post No Bills builds on that approach, with a bit more of an edge this time around, beginning with the opening cut, Keith Jarrett's "The Mourning of a Star," laid down as pure kinetic energy, a train trundling down the tracks at a good clip, the notes and rhythms contained in a confined space and moving inexorably forward. The often-covered "Stella By Starlight" opens with the sultry stealth of a deep-in-the-bones bass solo bass that segues into breakneck pace, illuminating Stella as a fast lady indeed under the light of the stars. Chick Corea's "Windows" slides along with a brisk momentum, propelled by the Koba/Daro drive-train.
There are also reflective moments, outside of time ruminations like Joe Sample's "One Day I'll fly Away," Horace Silver's melancholy "Lonely Woman," and pianist Denny Zeitlin's pensive "After The War," and the tenderest, most beautiful take on George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" imaginable, suffused with a sense of yearning.
Reitan includes three of his own top-notch compositions: "Spring," bright and hopeful; "Post No Bills," which begins with a segment of poetic introspection that gives way to a high-spirited, bump-shoulders-in-the-crowd gregariousness.
Reitan and the trio wraps up with the somber (in the beginning) "Solitude," dark and lovely, with Reitan lifting out of the into light briefly before settling back down into the dusk. A beautiful ending.
With this same triothey have been together since 1996he has honed an elegant and polished sound, drawing on a Bill Evans influencethe light touch, subtle dynamics, translucent harmonic beauty. Post No Bills builds on that approach, with a bit more of an edge this time around, beginning with the opening cut, Keith Jarrett's "The Mourning of a Star," laid down as pure kinetic energy, a train trundling down the tracks at a good clip, the notes and rhythms contained in a confined space and moving inexorably forward. The often-covered "Stella By Starlight" opens with the sultry stealth of a deep-in-the-bones bass solo bass that segues into breakneck pace, illuminating Stella as a fast lady indeed under the light of the stars. Chick Corea's "Windows" slides along with a brisk momentum, propelled by the Koba/Daro drive-train.
There are also reflective moments, outside of time ruminations like Joe Sample's "One Day I'll fly Away," Horace Silver's melancholy "Lonely Woman," and pianist Denny Zeitlin's pensive "After The War," and the tenderest, most beautiful take on George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" imaginable, suffused with a sense of yearning.
Reitan includes three of his own top-notch compositions: "Spring," bright and hopeful; "Post No Bills," which begins with a segment of poetic introspection that gives way to a high-spirited, bump-shoulders-in-the-crowd gregariousness.
Reitan and the trio wraps up with the somber (in the beginning) "Solitude," dark and lovely, with Reitan lifting out of the into light briefly before settling back down into the dusk. A beautiful ending.
Track Listing
The Mourning of a Star; One Day I'll Fly Away; Stella By Starlight; Lonely Woman; Spring; I Loves You Porgy; Windows; After the War; Post No Bills; Solitude.
Personnel
Greg Reitan
pianoGreg Reitan: piano; Jack Daro: bass; Dean Koba: drums.
Album information
Title: Post No Bills | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: Sunnyside Records
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Greg Reitan
CD/LP/Track Review
Dan McClenaghan
Sunnyside Records
United States
Dean Koba
Keith Jarrett
Chick Corea
Horace Silver
Denny Zeitlin
George Gershwin
Post No Bills