CD/LP/Track Review
Rob Schneiderman: Edgewise
C. Andrew Hovan
An avid audiophile and music collector, Hovan is a Cleveland-based writer/photographer and regular contributor to AAJ, Cleveland Scene, and Down Beat.You have to wonder if there’s something to the fact that there are three jazz artists of current vintage who, in addition to contributing substantially to the jazz lexicon, have also made an impact in some very important and time consuming fields outside of music. For instance, both trumpeter Eddie Henderson and pianist Denny Zeitlin have their own psychiatry practices. And in the case of fellow pianist Rob Schneiderman, we have one very intellectual mathematician in the field of low dimensional topology (whatever the heck that is).
Schneiderman’s art is one of understated elegance and over the course of his previous eight Reservoir sides he has evolved into a singular pianist of great merit. This new affair is simply a trio date with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Winard Harper, although there’s nothing routine about the results. What’s particularly rewarding are three new interpretations of some seldom done Bud Powell lines, including “Cleopatra’s Dream,” “I’ll Keep Loving You,” and “Blue Pearl.” The interaction among the three men is engaging (caught very well on tape by engineer Jim Anderson, by the way), the program moves along with a divergent ebb and flow, and we get another rock-solid entry in Reservoir’s long standing New York Piano series.
Track Listing: Cleopatra's Dream, Edgewise, Just One of Those Things, I'll Keep Loving You, What Is This Thing Called Love, Bud Powell Boulevard, In Walked Bud, Blue Pearl, Blues in the Closet, I'll Remember April
Personnel: Rob Schneiderman (piano), Ray Drummond (bass), Winard Harper (drums)
Record Label: Reservoir Music | Style: Straight-ahead/Mainstream
