Kris Davis and Younee: Keys To The Eighty-Eights

The role of pianist has been crucial to the evolution of jazz throughout its history. To that end, Art Tatum, McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans have achieved iconic status over the decades and, in more recent years, Brad Mehldau and Fred Hersch have laid the groundwork for their own ascents to similarly hallowed positions, Meanwhile Diana Krall has achieved no little popular success and perhaps not coincidentally, during this same contemporaneous period, other skilled distaff musicians including Renee Rosnes, Tania Giannouli and Carmen Staaf have likewise distinguished themselves artistically. And, in their trio and solo efforts respectively, Kris Davis and Younee, suggest they have assumed similar creative paths. Not coincidentally, the latter two's very distinct outings illustrate the foundational nature of the ivories in the jazz idiom.

The Kris Davis Trio
Run The Gauntlet
Pyroclastic Records
2024

Just as the customary multi-colored mosaic on this Pyroclastic Records cover mirrors the dedication of the album to a half-dozen like-minded jazz women, so too does the powerful expanse and depth of Kris Davis and company's musicianship reflect the leader's founding of the forward-thinking label. Piano trios can conjure an intensity that far belies the relatively compact size of the ensemble and Davis' work here with bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Johnathan Blake is just such an occurrence; as on the title song, the longest track here at just shy of fourteen minutes, it matters not who's soloing because the other two musicians refuse to merely comp in the background, but instead expend effort to elaborate and embroider upon the basic changes of the composition. Recorded by Andy Taub and mixed by Ben Greenberg—and subsequently mastered by Scott Hull—the pristine audio matches the emphatic clarity of the trio's interactions on these dozen originals of Davis.' In fact, the quietude of the fittingly-named "Softly, As You Awake" is an ideal foil for the roiling intricacy of that aforementioned opening cut with which it's juxtaposed. As such, this astute track sequencing ultimately becomes an intricately-constructed microcosm of the detailed dynamics contained in this sixty-three some minutes.

Younee
Improvisations: Live in Germany
Fulminantmusic/Membran
2024

The stark stage shots inside the glossy double-fold CD sleeve intimate what a courageous act is Younee's decision to play solo piano at the approximately dozen or so locations in Germany over a span of eight years. It is a bravery of another kind altogether, however, to release thirty-six recordings (engineered by Egmont Zumbroich) from the concerts: choosing to revisit the experiences in order to share with the public via Improvisations is indicative of the South Korean pianist's deep engagement in her performances. That said, it is no less of a wonder this third album of Younee's involves novel recording technology and technique; the mixing and mastering by Rainer Maillard, on "Bright Moonlight," for instance, results in a virtually uninterrupted intimacy for the near two-hours total playing time. In the end, performances herein like "Fruhling" are much like those paintings of the artist's inside the enclosed twenty-four page booklet: since the colorful abandon in Younee's musicianship is no less tangible for the tacit structure she imbues cuts such as the aptly-named "Funky Sonata."

Tracks and Personnel

Run the Gauntlet

Tracks: Run the Gauntlet; Softly, As You Awake; First Steps; Little Footsteps; Heavy-Footed; Beauty Beneath The Rubble; Beauty Beneath The Rubble Meditation; Knotweed; Coda Queen; Dream State; Subtones.

Personnel: Kris Davis: piano, prepared piano; Robert Hurst: bass; Johnathan Blake: drums.

Improvisations: Live In Germany

Tracks: Moderation; Fruehling; Moderation; Song for J.O.S; Moderation; Joy; Moderation; Tod und Leben; Wasser; Moderation; Funky Sonata; Moderation; Stars on the Sky without Gravity; Moderation; Crazy Night in Lichtenfels; Moderation; Red Indian Summer; Moderation; Vollmond; Moderation; From Korea to Bach; Moderation; Bright Moonlight; Moderation; Jazz Symphony; Lefthand Improvisation; Moderation; Cuba; Moderation; Instrument Is Alive; We Will Meet Again; Hello Beethoven; Moderation; Unterfahrt; Moderation; Seoul.

Personnel: Younee: piano