Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Howard Riley: 10.11.12
Howard Riley: 10.11.12
ByMonk and Ellington loom large among the pianist's admitted influences, but neither is overtly obvious here, their stamp limited to rich harmonies and the odd off kilter dissonance amid short bursts of swing. Riley's imagination ranges freely embracing melody alongside abstraction. In fact much of the disc is remarkably consonant. Several of the cuts, especially when the pianist settles on ballad mode, suggest they might come from some forgotten pages of the Great American Songbook. Indeed the first few bars of "Dwelling One" sounds like a paraphrase of "Summertime," before spinning into passages of lurching time and sparkling notions, then closing with a prancing flourish.
Moments of high drama grab the ear throughout, most notably in "From Somewhere" which is paradoxically at the same time both slightly more angular and slightly more bluesy than much of the recital. Riley begins the selection with tremolos on dampened strings as part of a stuttering intro, to which he briefly returns at the end. As if sensing unfinished business he picks up the same gambit as the dominant motif of the sprightly "Identification" where by the end it resembles an urgently tapping Morse code. "Lush Life" begins with an extemporized form which fits neatly with the preceding tracks until the familiar theme appears just shy of three minutes in, and is then subject to subtle variations and digressions before finishing to deserved applause.
Track Listing
Dwelling One; Dwelling Two; Understanding; From Somewhere; Identification; Lush Life.
Personnel
Howard Riley
pianoHoward Riley: piano.
Album information
Title: 10.11.12 | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: NoBusiness Records
< Previous
Deep Immersion