Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz, Michal Miskiewicz: Trio

It's tempting to invoke another longstanding ECM piano trio when describing this one. But while the level of group interaction reminds the listener of Keith Jarrett's work, in eschewing the blues in both form and feel, Trio is more in the lineage of Bill Evans.

There is a ruminative quality to much of the album, as if the trio were having a conversation, its members searching for just the right words. (The first and last tracks, two of five unrehearsed group improvisations, are titled "Trio Conversation. ) "Roxana's Song, by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, feels like a long introduction, as if the trio were building to a main statement; it never arrives, but paradoxically this creates a satisfying effect.

In the absence of Stanko, Wasilewski emerges as the group's principal composer. His elegant "Shine occupies the center of the album and here and elsewhere, subtleties of melody and form emerge with repeated listening. His playing features spacious harmonies and melodic lines with wide intervals; when a rare blue note comes along, the effect is jarring, like being woken from a dream.

While the trio as a whole shows remarkable cooperative playing, in particular enough good things cannot be said for drummer Miskiewicz. Throughout Trio his energetic and off-beat interjections help lift the music off terra firma.

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