Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Junko Onishi: Baroque

304

Junko Onishi: Baroque

By

View read count
Junko Onishi: Baroque
The world has been a slightly less happy place since Junko Onishi's last record.

After establishing herself as one of the finest young jazz pianists around with her debut, Wow (EMI, 1993), Onishi released a string of fine Blue Note recordings: Live At The Village Vanguard Volume 1 and Volume 2 (both 1994); the superb Cruisin' (1994), featuring her majestic "Eulogia"; and Piano Quintet Suite (1995).

With Fragile (Blue Note, 1999)—a virtual rock covers album that took on Jimi Hendrix, Cream and The Righteous Brothers—Onishi's recorded output all but vanished in the U.S., while the pianist reportedly released a number of CDs in Japan.

Now on Verve, Onishi is back with another unpredictable but typically excellent effort. A more lavish-sounding record than the rock n' raw Fragile, Baroque gives Onishi the opportunity to showcase her formidable compositional and arranging skills.

Working with durable and longtime band members Rodney Whitaker and Reginald Veal, (bass), Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), and fellow former Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra band mate Herlin Riley (drums)—along with stellar guests Nicholas Payton (trumpet) and woodwind/reed phenom James CarterBaroque is Onishi's show, yet every musician shines brightly. Riley and Gordon solo engagingly in avant-garde fashion on the album's obvious highlight, "The Three Penny Opera," which, according to the liners, features a piano solo based a musical score by Onishi's mentor and friend, the great Jaki Byard. This Onishi original is both a surprise and a revelation, with all the musicians allowed to stretch more than on her previous recordings.

As evidenced by the album's opener, "Tutti," Onishi's style has now allowed for a more improvisational approach. In some of her earlier records, her classical training sometimes kept things rather tight. But on numbers like bassist Charles Mingus' notoriously difficult "Meditations for a Pair of Wire Cutters," the pianist seems to have taken a page from the composer's book, allowing her seasoned fellow musicians room to interpret more freely.

Onishi gives herself two beautiful unaccompanied piano showcases on Baroque: Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" and Eubie Blake's "Memories of You." Both are fresh takes, technically impressive, and inventive without fussiness.

Baroque's expansiveness and variety make for what could be Onishi's most purely entertaining CD to date.

Track Listing

Tutti; The The Mother's (Where Johnny Is); The Threepenny Opera; Stardust; Meditations for a Pair of Wire Cutters; Flamingo.

Personnel

Junko Onishi : piano; Rodney Whitaker: bass; Reginald Veal: bass; Wycliffe Gordon: trombone; Herlin Riley: drums; Nicholas Payton: trumpet; James Carter: tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, flute; Roland Guerrero: congas.

Album information

Title: Baroque | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Verve Music Group

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.