Jazz Articles about Jim Pearce

Jim Pearce: You Are An Edgy Visionary Seer

by C. Michael Bailey
March 23, 2013

Jazz is serious music: so serious that sometimes it becomes a labor of such intensity that the composers and performers fail to have fun making the music. Vocalist/pianist/composer Jim Pearce specifically makes it a point to have fun, before getting serious (as serious as he ever gets). Gratefully in the mold of Bob Dorough, Dave Frishberg and Mose Allison, Pearce specializes in bright melodies and clever lyrics, a modern throwback to Tin Pan Alley reclaiming clever lyrics from the great ...

Jim Pearce: You Are An Edgy Visionary Seer

by Hrayr Attarian
January 17, 2013

Pianist/singer Jim Pearce's records inevitably draw comparisons to those of fellow ivory tickling wordsmith Mose Allison. The fact that both are genre-bending virtuosi with dry as champagne humor, who play the same instrument is where all similarities end. The whimsically titled You Are An Edgy Visionary Seer is quintessential Pearce, replete with his characteristic mixture of levity and thoughtfulness. While Allison's trademark is his blues-drenched and folksy raconteurstyle, Pearce's is more urbane, and his lyrics refreshingly absurdist ...

Jim Pearce: Never Open with A Ballad

by John Barron
June 1, 2007

It's hard for a jazz musician to garner recognition in an era of music industry indifference toward unknown artists--and the genre as a whole. Musicians like Jim Pearce forge ahead anyway, producing uncompromised, original music. Never Open with a Ballad is a well-conceived showcase for the multi-talented Atlanta-based pianist, vocalist and composer.

Pearce delves into the piano with outstanding technique and a firm modern jazz conception. The beauty of Never Open with a Ballad, however, lies in Pearce's composing. Covering ...

Jim Pearce: Prairie Dog Ballet

by Michael P. Gladstone
December 13, 2006

This effort by pianist/composer and bandleader Jim Pearce gives maximum exposure to his songwriting ability. In my reaction to his self-released album Thirty Year Waltz (2003), also comprised of all originals, I expressed regret that Pearce didn't include any standards or jazz standards, which would have offered listeners familiar melodies.

This time around, however, Pearce contributes another eleven originals that do indeed stand by themselves. The pacing of the album and the music is just short of perfect. ...

Jim Pearce: Washington Square Park

by Paul Olson
March 3, 2005

Jim Pearce Washington Square Park Self Published 2005

Atlanta-based pianist Jim Pearce is such a busy working musician (he averages over four hundred gigs per year ) that one wonders how he even found the time to record his new CD Washington Square Park --his first since 2003's Thirty Year Waltz. All curiosity about his schedule aside, Pearce has produced another winner. This is outstanding mainstream jazz.Pearce's piano style meshes perfectly with ...

Jim Pearce: Thirty Year Waltz

by Michael P. Gladstone
February 1, 2004

Pianist Jim Pearce has been an Atlanta resident since the early 1970s and is an accomplished songwriter. The title tune, “Thirty Year Waltz," was deemed the Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting in the 2002 Great American Songwriting Contest.

This debut recording displays eleven of Pearce's compositions. The tunes all share an attractive mainstream jazz melody with the head delivered by either unison horns or Eric Smith's flute/Pearce's piano. Pearce plays organ on “Sustaining Influence" and “Tumbling" to add texture ...