Lynne Arriale/The Lynne Arriale Trio: Live at the Montreaux Jazz Festival

We all have albums in our collection that are earmarked as fovorites for certain specific occasions. The Lynne Arriale Trio Live at the Montreaux Jazz Festival is one of my favorite after-work-put-your-feet-up albums. As the title suggests, the album is a live recording and the ambiance of the concert carries through. You can sense the excitement and that little "butterflies" tension that comes with the knowledge that there won't be any "take two". And you also feel the enthusiasm of the audience as they enjoy every minute of the performance. For a true jazz purist live is the only way and this album demonstrates why that philosophy holds true.

For a decade now Lynne Arriale has been entertaining jazz fans with her fabulous piano style. Her range of emotion is broad and lavish. Her understanding of jazz technique is thorough, but never overwhelms her soul. I think one of the secrets to Lynne Arriale is her ability to listen to the musicians around her.

On this album Lynne gives us her interpretaion of two Monk classics"Evidence" and, one of my favorites, "Think of One". On the latter her piano stylings are true to Monk, but with a wonderful flavor only Lynne could add. The music litterally soars. Lynne Arriale is not afraid to take the original Monk theme and fly with it.

It goes without saying that Lynne is accompnied by two outstanding musicians, Steve Davis on drums and Jay Anderson on bass. But I want to say it anyway. These two guys are great.

In the liner notes Lynne Arriale is quoted saying she and her trio want to reach an audience, to be as present as possible and to say what we mean through music. That about says it all.