Misha Tsiganov: Misha's Wishes

New York-based pianist and composer Misha Tsiganov, a well-established jazz veteran having appeared on countless albums throughout his career, presents his seventh recording as leader with Misha's Wishes, conceived and birthed during the COVID pandemic, when his time at home offered the perfect opportunity to develop this project. The long-time isolation during 2020 allowed the pianist to write, as he states, "some nice music that people will enjoy," which he certainly accomplishes here, providing seven originals in addition to reimagined arrangements of three cover tunes capping off a ten-wish package of musical magic.

Joining the leader are several players and personal friends he has performed and recorded with on other albums, including fellow countrymen bassist Boris Kozlov and his favorite trumpet player, "Sasha," otherwise known as Alex Sipiagin. Tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake, and drummer Donald Edwards round out the cast of frontline musicians and stars who come together in creating one of the most formidable quintets on the jazz landscape today.

Beginning with a light introduction by the leader, "Fire Horse," the designated animal in the Chinese zodiac for those born in 1966—which both the pianist and the drummer were—this medium-tempo swinger includes blazing solo moments from the trumpeter, the saxophonist and leader. The title track, a mellow ballad, is a reflection of the pianists' sadness in Sipiagin's recent relocation to Italy and captures the trumpeter on gorgeous flugelhorn lines against the saxophonist, who has also moved to Italy and who delivers his own solemn solos on a delicate track that in many ways, pays respectful tribute to a coupe of colleagues no longer living in New York.

On "There was a Birch Tree in the Field, So What," Tsiganov masterfully pens a clever arrangement of an old Russian folk song changing the modal melody into a contrafact of the Miles Davis "So What," resulting in one of the finest swinging tunes of the set. In stark contrast, the following original, "Lost in Her Eyes," is a romantic love ballad penned long ago for an ex-love, in apiece that showcases the leader's classical training.

A student of the pianist asked, "What can you do with a scale?" Experimenting with different chords, changes in tonality and rhythmic placement led him to realize, it could be a tune and as such was born the original "Just a Scale," changing from acoustic piano to Fender Rhodes.

The last arranged standard, "Comrade Conrad," a Bill Evans tribute to Conrad Mendenhall, a photographer who passed shortly before Evans recorded the piece in 1970, features ample space from Blake and Sipiagin on flugelhorn playing exquisite new lines penned by the pianist. The finale original "Are You with Me," tones down the music on a slowdown-tempo piece reflective of certain personal moments of the past to close the set. In any case, Misha's Wishes is an altogether exceptional work of art.