David Janeway: Interchange

Unearthing and releasing old music—even sounds sourced from decades old tapes—has become common in jazz. Pianist Bill Evans (thank you. Zev Feldman) has enjoyed something of a twenty-first-century renaissance. Pianist Fred Hersch released @ The Village Vanguard (Palmetto Records, 2018), recorded in 1997; and 2021 saw the posthumous release from pianist Masabumi Kikuchi, Hanamichi (Red Hook), recorded in 2013.

Pianist David Janeway has been on the scene since the late 70s; he offered up the marvelous Distant Voices in 2021, on Steeplechase Records (review here), and on the New Direction label, in 2017, he released another top-notch trio outing, Secret Passages, (review here).

The pianist now returns with music he made in 1993, Interchange which, like the previously mentioned recordings, finds the artist once again in a trio setting which suits him.

Janeway cites pianists Bill Evans and Denny Zeitlin as influences, though Interchange leans toward the Zeitlin side. His sound—in his teaming with bassist Harvie S and drummer Steve Johns—has a brightness and buoyancy, even on his ballad "Return," that Evans might have turned into a brooder.

The title tune, another original, sparkles with an energetic trio dynamic, and the Gershwin brothers' "Who Cares" has a lighthearted vibe, while Janeway's "Last Embrace" nudges the sounds back in the brooding (but somehow hopeful) mood. Janeway brings in saxophonist Pete Yellin on Bronislav Kaper's "Invitations," the rhythm section laying down a saucy backdrop for the horn.

Closing with Bill Evans' "Very Early," the sparkle returns to the sound, on one of Evan's loveliest of tunes, treated here with respect by David Janeway and his mates.