Maria Baptist: Essays on Jazz

If a title such as Essays on Jazz might suggest something dry or academic (or, god forbid, pretentious), perish the thought. For one thing, Maria Baptist has spent decades as a professor of music and knows her stuff enough to live up to the name. For another, she has spent even more time living the jazz life on club stages and bandstands, developing a piano style which is endlessly clever and classy. This richly dynamic live set shows that even the smartest essays don't need to be difficult.

Essays on Jazz is really almost a personal thesis, as it combines and revamps pieces from across Baptist's whole career. She has recorded many of them in contexts from solo to big band, yet this is the first time she's recorded with a quintet. It turns out to be a liberating choice which creates a full sound suggestive of her Jazz Orchestra while keeping the versatility of a small combo. The saxophone of long-time right- hand collaborator Jan von Klewitz deftly weaves an intimate counterpoint to Baptist's piano at the high end, while the deeper tones of Richard Maegraith's alto sax and bass clarinet add slinky tones to make the late-night noir mood that much richer and deeper.

The set kicks off with her signature tune "Here and Now," previously a big-band staple turned surprisingly contemplative in the quintet's hands. "Apartment #3" turns that titular living space into the site of a Saturday party with Baptist and von Klewitz taking their wildest solos of the night. "After the Darkness" slows down from its previous solo rendition to let the whole group add their own light and shade, while the likes of "Minotaurus" and "The Moon Stood Still" sparsely envelop everything in dreamy late-night quiet.

These pieces all get plenty of time to sprawl and breathe in the live setting, with Baptist and the band patiently wandering and conversationally trading solos as the mood takes them. Everyone gets their turn for a little dialogue somewhere, as the others drop out to give space. Besides being sharp and generous players, they all have a history with Baptist to some degree or another and a cozy knowledge of the material, and so they make Essays on Jazz a sort of personal retrospective as much as a musical one. Those familiar with her back catalogue can enjoy some familiar pieces in surprising dressings, while anyone else can sit back and simply relish an eloquent combo spinning some truly beautiful moods. Either way, it is packed with a lot of depth to discover.