Claire Ritter: Songs Of Lumiere

Claire Ritter sounds like the most American of artists on Song of Lumiere, a solo piano outing. The North Carolina native—who studied under another quintessential American, pianist Mary Lou Williams, as well as Ran Blake—presents "Opus 30: Songs of Lumiere" a nine-tune exploration of light on the album, along with two of her previously recorded compositions, and a bit of Great American Songbook and a touch of the jazz standards.

Ritter is at her best when weaving underlying themes in her albums. On The Strings of Pearls Project (2011) it was water. On Greener Than Blue  (2004) it was "World Poems For Peace," with Waltzing the Splendor it was "Four Jazz Serandes For Georgia O'Keefe." (all albums on Zoning Records). This brings us to Songs of Lumiere where Ritter explores the intricacies and vagaries of light in the mode of the nineteenth impressionist painters like Claude Monet.

Ritter opens with her composition "In A Sky Full Of Rainbows," a tune as pretty and delicate as its subject matter. Throughout her career, Ritter's work has always had a glistening luminesce about it. It is ephemeral, as it is with the entire album. Ritter is concise. She says what she has to say in about three minutes. Sometimes less. Well-crafted and to the point, the standards fit perfectly with the theme. Cole Porter's "Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love" is bright and bouncy. French singer-songwriter Charles Trenet's "I Wish You Love" has a beautiful and measured. deliberation." Craziology," written by Benny Harris and covered (probably) most famously by Charlie Parker puts Ritter's ability to take the familiar in and make it her own, with a spirited directness.

From the beginning, Ritter's compositions and playing have walked the line between the jazz and classical worlds. If you want to call it jazz, it has to be considered the prettiest form of the genre; if you want to call it classical it should be regarded as the most engaging type of the cerebral form of expression.. It glitters like stars: "Painting the Stars," Leigh Harlien's "When You Wish Upon A Star." It explores the mysteries of nature: "Soul Of Grass," "Dancing With  The Egrets." And it reaches for the heavens: "Prelude To The Angels," "The Cloud & The Moonbeams."

A marvelous, well-conceived album. Perhaps Ritter's best to date.