Shai Maestro: Solo: Miniatures & Tales

Shai Maestro fired the imagination when he joined Avishai Cohen's trio when only 19 years old, contributing to four well-received albums. In 2010, Maestro formed his own trio and released a string of albums as leader before moving to ECM Records with two excellent trio albums, The Dream Thief (2018) and Human (2021), which enhanced his reputation as a major influence in contemporary jazz. Along the way he has worked with Oded Tzur, Theo Bleckmann and Ben Wendel. He continues to impress with his first solo piano recording, Solo: Miniatures & Tales.

The ten tracks that make up the album blend shorter pieces (typically two to three minutes) with more expansive compositions, along with two covers. Despite not having other musicians to interact with on this occasion, Maestro fully embraces the creative freedom offered to explore from a blank canvas and craft an expansive personal statement.

The compelling opening track, "3 Colors," shows his deft touch as he weaves fast-moving rhythmic piano patterns and melodies into a striking album introduction. With the listener's attention firmly captured, he then gives a delightfully inventive reading of Jerome Kern's standard "All The Things You Are." The album then moves into "Gloria," the first of the longer works. Dedicated to his partner, this wonderfully eloquent track is underpinned by Maestro's classical roots. The family theme continues through the recording with the gentle and lovely ruminations of "An Old Family Photo" and the rumbling expressions of "Aba" (meaning Father).

Elsewhere on the album, "From One Soul To Another," taken from his trio album The Stone Skipper (Sound Surveyor Music, 2016), is stripped of the original's bass and drums, the additional space revealing more of the delicacy of its poignant melody, as it builds from simple beginnings, becoming fuller and faster before receding towards the end, and the mournful improvisation of "Monkey Mind" is the kind to lose yourself in, with complexity and beauty perfectly balanced.

There is another cover; "For All We Know" (not to be confused with The Carpenters' 1970 hit) has had many versions, including by Brad Mehldau on his Art of the Trio Volume 3 release (Warner Jazz, 1998) and by Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden on their bona fide classic album Jasmine (ECM Records, 2010). Albeit in different group formats, listeners may find the comparison with these pianists, who have strongly influenced Maestro's sound, to be of interest.

Classical influences show once more on "Dakini" as the track builds in tempo and new paths open up for exploration. The album closes with "Mystery And Illusions;" the piece overflows with ideas before changing midway, building and varying a repeating phrase to a buoyant close.

Beautifully recorded, the album has a raw, unpolished, one-take feel, highlighting Maestro's intuition and resourcefulness in a solo environment. He explores contrasts, expanding some pieces to longer formats against the fleeting, concentrated form of the shorter tracks. The result is an entrancing blend of technical mastery, emotion and melodic expression. The good news is that there is more to come, as Maestro explains, "This album marks the beginning of a series of solo recordings that I plan to keep making and releasing for as long as I can play."