Okonski: Magnolia

Every so often an album emerges out of—well, not nowhere exactly, but in this case Loveland, Ohio, which could be considered, in the nicest possible way, to be getting pretty close—that is as delightful as it is unexpected. Magnolia is a pensive, late night, piano-trio musing on melancholy, loss and empty, moonlit city streets. It is Edward Hopper's Nighthawks without the party vibe. Not that it evokes, exactly, isolation or rejection; more a feeling of quiet introspection and reflection. Not loneliness so much as being alone.

The trio is pianist Steve Okonski, double bassist Michael Isvara Montgomery and drummer Aaron Frazer. All three have connections to the R&B group Durand Jones & The Indications, who are based in neighbouring Indiana.

The album was originally planned, we are told, as a collection of beat-driven and fully composed instrumentals. And some of it, such as opener "Runner Up," is more or less that. But at the small-hours end of the first session, in winter 2020, the trio recorded a spontaneous group improv, subsequently titled "Sunday," and this approach was explored further during a second session in summer 2021. The rest of the tracks morph between composed and on the wing.

Magnolia sounds honest and authentic. Partly this comes from the no-frills recording set up and partly from the sound of the piano, which suggests either a wonky upright or a grand which has been prepared to mimic one. Artless or artful, it is effective and evocative and the album is refreshingly quirky, in that respect reminiscent of Marco Benevento's plugged-in trio recordings of the late 2000s.

Magnolia lasts less than 26 minutes but seems shorter.

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