Five Views From The Piano Bench

The piano is a versatile instrument that provides different trajectories for those who play it. The view from the piano bench can vary as dramatically as the artist playing it.

Yuja Wang
The Vienna Recital
Deutsche Grammophon
2024

From the biggest of stages...

In 2009, Chinese wunderkind pianist Yuja Wang released her debut recording, Sonatas & Etudes (Deutsche Grammophon), and for the past 15 years has proven herself the pianist of her generation by recasting the Romantic Era in a robustly fresh light. Her The Berlin Recital (Deutsche Grammophon, 2023) was received warmly and after the shotgun releases of The Verbier Festival Debut Recital 2008 (2023) and Rachmaninoff: The Piano Concertos & Paganini Rhapsody (2023) Yang gives us The Vienna Recital, a performance in full (sans the encores, which may follow the paradigm established with her Berlin Recital with the release of the encores as a stand-alone). Recorded at the Wiener Konzerthaus, on August 25, 2022, The Vienna Recital covers a broad expanse of the piano repertoire in a well-conceived and considered manner.

Her program is eclectic and enigmatic, orbiting its interior gestalt. The performance can be divided into two parts where the opening is a concept suite consisting of Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 3 and Nikolai Kapustin's 24 Jazz Preludes, Op. 53 Nos. 11 and 10, bookended by Isaac Albéniz's Iberia, T. 105 / Book 4: No. 10, Málaga on the front end and Albéniz's Iberia, T. 105 / Book 3: No. 9, Lavapiés. These selections lay at the heart of Wang's art, which is flashy, mercurial, technically punctilious, and rigorously studied. Wang's technique is authoritative and informed, and her articulation is superb. The second half of the performance begins with Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-Flat Major before ascending into measured performances of Ligeti's Etudes, Book 2, Nos 6 & 13 that crackle and pop. Wang's treatment of Philip Glass' Études: No. 6 is abrupt and thrilling. Arturo Márquez's Danzón No. 2 is a melodic gift and Brahms 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117, No. 3 is given an airy reading. The closing piano arrangement of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq, 30: Melodie dell'Orfeo is graceful and plaintive. This is a large talent, on a large stage, playing large music from another world.

Ran Blake & Frank Carlberg
Gray Moon
Red Piano Records
2024

...to more intimate surroundings...

Gray Moon is an odd piano recording because it involves two pianos and as many pianists. Ran Blake has recorded for over 50 years, specializing in projects that raise the piano equal to the vocalists being supported. Blake has made well-received duet recordings with Jeanne Lee, Sara Serpa, Dominique Eade, and Christine Correa. Before Gray Moon Blake recorded one other two-piano recital on Improvisations (Soul Note, 1983) with Jaki Byard. This time Blake teams with Finnish-born Frank Carlberg for a broad-ranging musical rumination. The two men came together at Jordin Hall in Boston and began to explore music from various sources. One thing is for sure, Blake and Carlberg are resistant to the jazz ontology. This is pure music played by two smart guys who think a lot. This is how it translates.

Impressive is the breadth of music: From the Catalonian folksong "E! Cant Dels Ocells" to the film music of Alfred Newman ("Pinky"); from George Gordon's "Bebopper" to George Russell's "Stratusphunk," these pianists are serious about their material and its transformation as if by a stream of consciousness. The artistic approach is deconstructive. Blake and Carlberg dismantle "Take The A Train." Their vivisection of Billy Strayhorn's famous piece is complete, passing through the history of the piano. Originals and standards alike, this is an exploration of what is possible within the questionable perimeter of the melodies. The performance of "'Round Midnight" extends the pianist's language by looking inward and taking an inventory. From that, the familiar melody emerges. The pianists present their multiple views of this most important jazz standard. Thelonious Monk's music was created for these treatments. "Tea For Two" is nearly unrecognizable, which is the charm of this music.

Antonio Adolfo
Love Cole Porter
AAM Music
2024

...and a swinging homage...

Brazilian treasure, pianist and composer Antonio Adolfo has spent a career exploring the music of his homeland. For Love Cole Porter, Adolpho arranged 10 prominent selections from the Porter songbook, predictably with a Brazilian flair. Still, not one so overpowering as to be intrusive to Porter's intent. Adolpho is joined by musicians with whom he is familiar from his recent recordings Bossa 65 (AAM Music, 2023), Octet and Originals (AAM. Music, 2022), and Jobim Forever (AAM Music, 2021). Love Cole Porter benefits from this familiarity in the smooth roundness of the performances and the softness of harmonic transitions.

This tonal roundness extends to solos and soloists alike. On "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" Jesse Sadoc's flugelhorn is suspended above Adolpho's seamless piano and Jorge Helder's gentle double bass. At the same time, guitarist Lula Galvão answers Sadoc with his brand of smoothly-hewn improvisation. "I've Got You Under My Skin" is given an impressionistic yet humid reading by the band. The bridge is pure Frank Sinatra and Adolpho's piano has a slight blue tint leading into Marcelo Martin's soprano saxophone solo. The ensemble performance on "Love For Sale" and "Night and Day" is delicately nuanced as is Rafael Rocha's slippery trombone solo on the former and Helder's woody bass solo on the latter. There is certainly a glut of Cole Porter recordings available, but few compare with the artistry Adolpho accomplishes here. Love Cole Porter is a career highlight.

Kent Engelhardt & Stephen Enos
Madd for Tadd: The Music of Tadd Dameron
Tighten Up Records
2022

...from the written staff to the big band...

Tadd Dameron started at the piano, but his vision extended well beyond, becoming one of the bebop era's finest composers and arrangers. It can be argued that Dameron was an important transitional figure spanning jazz's evolution from swing to bop. Dameron's discography, as the leader and side musician is slim due to the nagging heroin addiction the pianist developed late in his career. Despite this, Dameron composed several bop and swing standards, including "Hot House," "If You Could See Me Now," "Our Delight," "Good Bait" and "Lady Bird." The recordings Dameron made with trumpeter Fats Navarro were well thought of, elevating the profile of both men. In 1957, Dameron recorded with John Coltrane on the excellent Mating Call (Prestige). Dameron did not record again until 1962 when he created his finest recording, The Magic Touch (Riverside). The pianist would die three years later.

Dameron always had his ardent supporters, drummer Philly Joe Jones' Dameronia being the most notable. Leading a 15-piece big band (Madd for Tadd), saxophonist Kent Engelhardt, with trumpeter Stephen Enos released Central Avenue Swing and Our Delight, the former featuring swing music Dameron composed in 1940 for Harlan Leonard and his Rockets. Our DelightThe Magic Continues (Tighten Up Records, 2018) and features Dameron's music lushly and with great conviction. Dameron saw much over the music stand and Engelhardt and Enos made it sing in performance.

Greg Nathan
In The Autumn Years
Soaring Music Productions
2024

...with love and admiration...

The sweep of piano music extends from the bright global stage of Yuja Wang at the Wiener Konzerthaus to the intense intimacy of a musician paying homage to his pianist/composer father on his father's piano in his home. Familiar, comfortable, quiet, reminiscent. Greg Nathan is a bassist and vocalist by trade. He released I'll Think Of Something (Self Produced, 2014), a collection of jazz standards and originals on which Nathan sang and played bass with guitarist Mike Denny. Even that recording was made with Nathan's father, pianist/composer Charles Nathan, in mind. Charles Nathan (1921-2012) was a noted West Coast songwriter, his oeuvre included "Say You're Mine Again" (with lyrics by Dave Heisler) which was recorded by Perry Como and the Ramblers in 1953.

In The Autumn Years is a collection of 14 Charles Nathan compositions performed by Greg Nathan on his father's piano. Several elements intersect in this project making it special, as close as skin. Greg Nathan is a pianist like many Broadway lyricists are singers. There is a deep authenticity and honesty when hearing a lyricist sing his or her lyrics and this experience is the same with Greg performing his father's melodies. Charles Nathan was a masterful composer, infusing his melodies with a corporate memory whispering hints of "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" in "And You Were There' and a touch of Art Tatum playing Fats Waller on "That's The Story Of My Life." Greg Nathan's piano method recalls Thelonious Monk performing solo with implied stride elements in nearly every performance. In The Autumn Years is Greg Nathan's love letter to his father. It is solid, palpable, and profound.

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