Atzko Kohashi & Tony Overwater: Porgy

George Gershwin's 1935 folk opera, Porgy and Bess, a quintessentially American masterpiece, has had its share of jazz interpretations. Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald visited the work in 1957 on Verve Records. Pianist Oscar Peterson dug into the Gershwin score—again, on Verve—in 1959. But the most notable rendition is the Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaboration Porgy and Bess (Columbia Records,1958), one of the finest big band jazz albums of all time.

So what more is there to say about the work?

Japanese-born and now Netherlands-based pianist and her long-time collaborator, bassist Tony Overwater, take a fresh look at Porgy and Bess with Porgy, approaching the opera from a unique perspective, joined by drummer Sebastiaan Kaptein and reedist Michael Moore.

The quartet's version revolves around the tune "I Loves You, Porgy," with an embrace of the simplicity of the five-note opening that corresponds to the syllables of the title.

"Our music flows as naturally as a brush stroke," Kohashi says. Painting is an apt comparison. Kohashi mentions Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky and their belief that art is not creating something from nothing, but rather an archaeological uncovering of something that already exists. It is a journey of discovery. With improvisation—there is much of that here—there is much within the Gershwin work to discover, and the quartet is wide open to the discoveries that come about.

"I Loves You, Porgy" opens the set on a surreal bass drone that sounds like it is beaming in from outer space through a field of spare piano note stars, joined by Michael Moore's yearning clarinet melody. Kohashi and company have made a new world of sound as they enter a different dimension by immersing themselves in the familiar tune with no concerns for constraints.

"If You Can Keep Me"—Bess addressing Porgy, perhaps—sounds as if there is a possibility that he can do just that. Kohashi's piano roams freely, saying, "Maybe." Drummer Kaptein bustles and rumbles with uncertainty, and Moore's clarinet says to Porgy, "Yes, my man, you can." The tune is revisited later on the set. Bess seems less optimistic here. Porgy may lose her. Overwater's bass is warning and ominous—do not lose this woman, Porgy.

"Moontide" gives off a mood indigo. Time has stopped, and Luna is reflected on the glassy surface of the river, slightly distorted as the tidal push ripples the water.

"Don't Drive Me Mad (Porgy Bop)" does bop into a groove. Moore blows cool on the alto sax. It is a tune that brings alto saxophonist Lee Konitz to mind, with its joy and sparkle, the stretching of the notes.

"Play Pray" is solemn. It talks to God. A tune to listen to with the Rosary Beads at hand.

Kohashi cites, as mentioned previously, painters Picasso and Kandinsky concerning her work. Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) might also be an appropriate comparison. The Italian artist immersed himself in simple still lifes, depicting the same vases and bottles from slightly different perspectives and arrangements, discovering something new in simplicity and shifts in perspective, as Atsko, Overwater, Kaptein and Moore have approached their loving exploration of Gershwin's folk opera with a deep simplicity/complexity approach, taking a fresh and compelling look at the masterpiece.

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