Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » David Lopato: Many Moons

193

David Lopato: Many Moons

By

View read count
David Lopato: Many Moons
Pianist/composer, David Lopato's long career has included turns with prominent players in the fields of avant-garde jazz and classical, world music, theater, free improvisation and modern jazz. In particular, he has done outstanding jazz work with Gerry Hemingway, David Mott, Wadada Leo Smith and Joe Lovano. Given the wide and varied circles Lopato travels in, it isn't useful to have preconceived notions about any particular music as his defining genre. Nevertheless, Many Moons, his second solo piano release, covers the preferences of many who have enjoyed Lopato's work.

"Swing Trades" opens the collection, and is aptly titled, as it moves back and forth from a distinctive boogie rhythm to dissonance. Lopato employs a similar method of exchanging and comingling different styles on "Inside You" and "No Visa," the latter moving closer to a free jazz approach. In both cases, Lopato introduces the tune with straightforward, almost sparse phrasing before layering on far more complexity. "Piano Roll I," which in part, pays respect to John Cage, is the most openly free piece in the collection, and is influenced by the very different dynamics of player and prepared pianos.

The very brief "Fly Brook" and "Unrequited Love" incorporate an Americana folk element, the first piece being an expression of Lopato's fondness for bluegrass music. Another of his more personal compositions is "Brooklyn," a bluesy reflection on Lopato's childhood home and his subsequent sense of detachment from it. "The Big Bad Wolf Ain't So Bad After All" starts out as a rag and continues Lopato's drawing on personal aspects of his life for musical inspiration.

After exploring some of these more traditional styles, Lopato revisits more of his melodic phrases infused with free improvisation on "African Village." This particular piece being influenced by Lopato's exposure to the same Ewe folk music of Ghana which had inspired much of Royal Hartigan's Blood Drum Spirit. The collection closes with "Peace March," a reverential excerpt from Lopato's "Suite 9/11." The parts may be greater than the sum on Many Moons, but it's possible that it needs to be the case when spanning more than thirty years of original compositions. It's an impressive display of Lopato's talents as a musician and composer.

Track Listing

Swing Trades; Inside You; Fly Brook; Unrequited Love; No Visa; Reflexology; Brooklyn; The Big Bad Wolf Ain't So Bad After All; Wishing Willie Well; African Village; Piano Roll 1; Peace March.

Personnel

David Lopato: piano.

Album information

Title: Many Moons | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Self Produced

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.