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The Drummonds: Pas de Trois
ByRosnes has a gift for blowing the dust off standards, making them sound fresh and personal, and her comping is always unusually sensitive and melodic. Here she has impeccable support from the Drummonds: Ray the bassist takes some wonderful solos, and Billy the drummer (and Renee's husband) is intricate and perfectly attuned. Pas de Trois means dance of three, an apt description of the trio's communal energy: strong without being aggressive, companionable and fluid.
Their pallette here ranges from swinging versions of "You and the Night and the Music," "Pas de Trois," "I Hear a Rhapsody" and the burner, "Golden Earrings," to mid-tempo versions of "My Romance" and "Emily" that give new pulse to those classics. "Rhapsody" is pure stretch-out joy, while "Too Young to Go Steady" demonstrates how to keep a ballad consistently interesting and moving, even when the material is less than stellar. The record includes a beautiful version of Wayne Shorter's "Miyako" as a tribute to the year Rosnes spent with his band (1988), and ends with a celestial "Haunted Heart," introduced with one of the loveliest piano solos I've ever heard.
Pas de Troix is a refreshing, thoroughly entertaining recording from a classy trio. Check it out if you haven't heard Rosnes and the Drummonds; if you have, you need no encouragement from me.
Track Listing
You and the Night and the Music; Too Young to Go Steady; Pas de Trois; My Romance; Emily; Golden Earrings; Miyako; I Hear a Rhapsody; Haunted Heart.
Personnel
Renee Rosnes- piano; Ray Drummond- bass; Billy Drummond- drums.
Album information
Title: Pas De Trois | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: True Life Jazz
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