Julian Shore: Sub Rosa

Sub Rosa demonstrates that Julian Shore now plays a key role in the evolution of the jazz piano trio.

The jazz piano trio can be seen as the genre's answer to the classical string quartet. Both demand exceptional playing skills, intense listening, and a delicate balance among musicians. However, achieving this quality in a jazz trio is arguably more challenging, as musicians improvise rather than relying entirely on scores. This makes a deep, collusive camaraderie essential.

Bill Evans is widely credited with transforming the piano trio by elevating the roles of the bass and drums. Julian Shore takes this evolution even further. In his trio, Martin Nevin's bass playing assumes a more strategic role, as does Allan Mednard's drumming. There's even an occasional glimmer of humor, a quality often absent in Evans's work.

The track "Winter Song" perfectly showcases the exquisite integration among Shore, Mednard, and Nevin. During the piece, the rhythm subtly shifts, with Mednard moving from delicate taps to more assertive raps. Shore's piano navigates abstraction, consistently supported by Nevin's intricate bass patterns. Other tracks like "Messenger," "Mission," and "Beacon" share similar abstract and allusive qualities.

Throughout the album, the level of integration is often breathtaking, almost overwhelming. There is a palpable sense of swing, beauty, grace, and complexity, all underpinned by the supreme musicality of the trio. The influence of Wayne Shorter is evident, particularly the allusive quality Shore absorbed from Shorter's quartet during his final touring years with Brian Blade, Danilo Pérez, and John Patitucci.

Allan Mednard, too, fully embraces abstraction, demonstrating a remarkable ability to transition between structured and free playing. He expertly enhances the music without overpowering it, making subtle yet impactful rhythmic and textural choices with his tightly tuned drums. He can craft tumbling, dancing rhythms that subtly shift around the pulse. Mednard consistently varies his sound, and the occasional vehemence of his interpolations can be startling as they punctuate the melancholic melodies.

Not everything on the album is abstract. Their version of "Blues in Blueprint" is a standout, an obscure Duke Ellington masterpiece from the album Blues in Orbit. The original, featuring Harry Carney on bass clarinet, is a delight, and Shore is in a probing mood as he guides Nevin and Mednard through the piece's solemn atmosphere and pace.

It is refreshing to hear a pianist tackle a well-worn piece like "All The Things You Are" and breathe new life into it, as Shore deftly navigates the changes. There is nothing predictable about his twists and turns; Mednard creates his own compelling rhythm, and Martin Nevin effortlessly keeps pace. This is a new kind of cool, layered with introspection.

A touch of impish guile shines through on "Must Keep Going," where the improvisation evolves into a fast-moving canon as Nevin and Mednard accompany Shore on his classical foray before the trio reluctantly slows to a stop.

Shore commented, "I hinted at different elements of my life in the titles of the tunes, but I never want to give the whole picture away." He draws a parallel to David Lynch's reluctance to explain his films. One could also cite Ernest Hemingway's iceberg theory, where only a fraction of the story is revealed, leaving the deeper meaning for the audience to infer.

One of the album's significant strengths lies in its capacity to evoke a wide range of emotions without resorting to overt drama. There are moments of quiet introspection, bursts of vibrant energy, and passages of melancholic beauty, all interwoven with a thread of understated elegance. Shore's compositions frequently feature unexpected turns and subtle shifts in mood, keeping the listener engaged and inviting repeated listens to uncover new layers of meaning.

Chill Tone Records has ensured that playing as detailed, nuanced and intense as this is well presented.

Comments