Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Achille Gajo Trio: Blue Sand

296

Achille Gajo Trio: Blue Sand

By

View read count
Achille Gajo Trio: Blue Sand
As enjoyable as it is to encounter a new recording by a long-established artist, even greater pleasure can be found in the discovery of an outstanding lesser-known talent. Such is the case with Blue Sand, the new release by Italian-born, Paris-based pianist Achille Gajo and his trio. Gajo's compatriots include bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel and drummer John Betsch, who played together previously as Steve Lacy's longtime rhythm section. Gajo's playing and composing are consistently wonderful, and the empathetic interplay with Avenel and Betsch approaches that of classic trios past. Blue Sand is certainly one of the finest trio albums of the year.

Gajo is a deeply bluesy player with a clarity of line reminiscent of Bill Evans or early Chick Corea. His compositions are nicely varied and all memorable. "The Window" opens the album with a recurring piano/bass figure that blossoms outward into extended melodic explorations. An elegant bass feature for Avenel and Betsch's rolling solo over the vamp are highlights of this long track. "Test" is altogether spikier, showing the only traces of Lacy on the album, mixed here with a little chunky mid-'60s Brubeck for good measure.

The title track, a lovely ballad with gospel-blues touches, again showcases Avenel, who switches to the kora, an African harp-like string instrument, for "Korail." The interplay with Gajo's piano on this exotic tune fills the air with gorgeous curlicues of melody, while Betsch fills in the bottom end with a little extra bass drum work. Versions of Abdullah Ibrahim's "Mountain of the Night" and Carla Bley's "Ida Lupino" are stellar, but the trio saves the best for last. "Shark Waltz" (a play on Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance") is alternately propulsive and wistful, with a funky main line that would be irresistible even if not driven home by such fantastic playing.

Everything about this album is first-class, and one can only hope that the indie label Piadrum can get it distributed widely enough to reach the audience it deserves. Gajo is a major new talent, and if he can keep this excellent trio together, we can expect masterpieces from him in the future.

Track Listing

The Window; Mountain of the Night; Test; Blue Sand; Korail; Ida Lupino; Rwanda; I Am Leaving; Bach to Steve; Shark Waltz

Personnel

Achille Gajo, piano; Jean-Jacques Avenel, bass, kora; John Betsch, drums

Album information

Title: Blue Sand | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Piadrum Records

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.