Bob Rodriguez: Corridor

On this dreamy trio session, pianist Bob Rodriguez interprets a set of originals and several standards. His cascading keyboard melodies and gently flowing snippets of poetic charm give the listener a quiet storm of relaxed pleasure. The acoustic setting provides a natural texture, while each improvised phrase overlaps like the wind and the rain outside.

Opening the session, "Corridor" gives the impression of a long walkway that leads to mixed pleasures. In the other rooms, we find Ellington, Rodgers & Hart, Coltrane, and others. However, the session proves quite mellow throughout. Ballads give the trio plenty of consonant harmonic material, but the pace remains steady, serene, and slow.

The pianist adores a soft-spoken ballad with lyrical designs and a spare rhythmic foundation. His emphasis remains on the rise and fall and repetitive nature of each cascading melody. His percussive approach to the piano's keyboard direction drives like a cat's paws prancing along the top of a wooden fence. You can feel each stroke, but the result is never forceful.

Bassist Mike Richmond adds several lyrical solo interludes to the session, while drummer Eliot Zigmund colors from a distance. With piano at the forefront in its glimmering façade, the music snuggles gracefully through one leisurely ballad after another. Rodriguez applies notes to music as a tree applies falling leaves to the ground.