Eduardo Elia: Una pregunta, tres respuestas

With its dramatic undertow and harmonic tension, "Sobreviviente" steps from the plane into the deep blue sky, free falling from a high dive. It sets the head up very nicely for the hypnotic, human interplay and conceptual artistry that is Una Pregunta, Tres Respuestas, Argentinian pianist Eduardo Elia's latest pursuit into the unchartered.

On Una Pregunta, Tres Respuestas (One Question Three Answers) Elia again cross examines the line dividing composition through improvisation and vice versa. It is an actively ongoing quest heard rivetingly on such hushed triumphs as The Art of Not Falling— Improvisations on Schoenberg's Op19 Piano Pieces (Orbit577, 2021); Alone (Blue Art, 2016); and Cuando Sea Necesario, (Blue Art, 2019)

But here the answers he may have previously found (if any) have a slippery grasp of the current situation. That situation being the many questions double bassist Maximiliano Kirszner and drummer Nicolas Politzer bring with them to the session and insist on asking. It is a fascinating listen. The kind of dialogue one wishes warring nations would have on a daily basis.

The title track attempts to answer all those (and our) questions all at once and only clarifies as it blurs. Packed into its taut six minutes the trio faces off—not rivals, not G-men, not bankers or fools—but fellow disciples pointed forward. Elia comps and romps, Kirszner rides roughshod and Politzer cuts his own path. Yet it is a true composition. One worthy of many playlists. That the trio follows it with the more classically themed and rendered "No Mires II." Additionally, the concise pop beauty of "Lanzallamas" is a feat to behold. This is high-order stuff.

Point of start or departure? This is the hook that seizes your ear as "Lennie," a shuffling, shifting blues rambles into the captivating "Piano /Double bass Impro" which epilogues the quietly elegant "Sol de Noche." It is a sense of movement that does not sweep one away as much as it buoys one for the next elusive answer.