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Marc Johnson / Eliane Elias: Swept Away
ByElias' debt to iconic pianist Bill Evans is obvious in the refined delicacy of her touch. The connection is there: she offered up a stunning tribute to Evans with her 2008 Blue Note Release, Something for You: Eliane Elias Sings and Plays Bill Evans; Johnson was Evans' bassist in the late 1970s. Evansperhaps the most influential jazz pianist of the last fifty yearshad an approach that was very harmonically sophisticated and highly cerebral. Elias can play from the head, but more often her sound seems to come from the heart.
Lovano comes in on the second tune, "It's Time," another Elias original. At this point, very few saxophonists can be considered his equal. Lovano's rich-toned expressiveness, the elasticity of his lines and his malleable and cliché-free poetics in his play with the melodymatched in the saxophone world only by altoist Lee Konitzinjects a blue hue into Elias' late night sparkle.
If Elias is playing from the heart on the disc's first two tunes, the music bubbles up from the gut on the danceable, hard-driving "One Thousand and One Nights," a trio tune where the pianist wears her immense technical proficiency and joy of creation on her sleeve, with Baron adding some pop while Johnson's bass pushes the sound forward. Johnson's "When the Sun Comes Up" wanders, via Lovano's saxophone, into a lazy dawn, picking up momentum as the day brightens and Elias adds a cool flow of angular notes to the bounce of the Johnson/Baron rhythm section.
Elias' "B is for Butterfly," could serve as a soundtrack to the rising of the monarchs at the beginning of their migrationbright, lighter than air, awe-inspiring in its natural beauty.
Swept Away is a magical release, eclipsing even the magnificent Shades of Jade (ECM Records, 2005), which employed the same cast (along with guitarist John Scofield). It's got everything: Lovano's jazz Zen; Elias' romantic enchantment; and Johnson and Baron's astute and spirited interplay, which binds it all together for one of those rare, near-perfect recordings by a group of veteran artists playing (and writing) at their peak.
Track Listing
Swept Away; It's Time; One Thousand and One Nights; When the Sun Comes Up; B is for Butterfly; Midnight Blue; Moments; Sirens of Titan; Foujita; Inside Her Old Music Box; Shenandoah.
Personnel
Marc Johnson
bassEliane Elias: piano; Marc Johnson: double bass; Joey Baron: drum; Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone.
Album information
Title: Swept Away | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: ECM Records
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