Lynne Arriale: Being Human

In need of some serious uplift? Try Being Human, a sure high water mark for pianist/composer Lynne Arriale.

Locked into that too often wayward network of connections between heart, brain and her vividly emotive lyricism, Arriale's seventeenth artistic statement serves as a conduit to our shared hopes, dreams, thoughts, prayers, and best wishes for a better world. Lithesome and balletic, with a feminine mystique and facility that's essential yet hard to define, Being Human throws a warm light upon the gamut of the pianist's innumerable powers.

In close dialogue with Israeli bassist Alon Near (Billy Childs, Eli Degibri) and Poland native, drummer Lukasz Zyta (Lee Konitz, Bennie Maupin, Wadada Leo Smith), Being Human glows brightly with a shared humanity that is not, in lieu of all the chaos that abounds on the planet, a tribal one. It is a universal ten-song suite wherein each track is its own anthem.

Focusing on the qualities we inherit from each other, Arriale and company manage to stop the world in order to look at where we are, how and why we got here, and how the hell we work our way out of the quagmire. But not with the anger of partisanship. No—"Courage"with its defiant 6/8 pull, the pianist's unbounded lyrical encouragement inherit in "Passion," the folk dance, common man story told on "Faith,"—leave themselves vulnerable to all grace and solace.

Hearts willing to be open and embracing is the stoking energy behind Being Human. If that weren't so, then Arriale, Near and Zyta could not possibly pull off the effervescent free-fall found in"Curiosity," or the bluesy polyrhythmics behind "Soul," and the driving specifics of "Persistence."

Though an argument can be made that the closing "Love (Reprise)," with its electronic chorale of voices, could be a tad heavy handed, Arriale avoids didactics or dissonance. Poetic in structure, Being Human resounds with celebratory stanzas and couplets. Attuned to our greater power, our better angels, "Joy" is truly that, an island breeze bearing calypso highlighted by standout solos from all involved. "Gratitude" is a quiet and welcome meditation. It is the moment needed to hopefully inspire change.