Simona Premazzi: Wave In Gravity

What do we listen for in a solo piano project? Technical proficiency. Heart. Body. Soul. A vulnerability versus strength dynamic. The ability to surrender to the sounds, to take them where they want to go. In other words, we look for how well the artist articulates their humanity.

Simona Premazzi displays all these attributes on her first solo piano outing Wave In Gravity.

A native of Italy, now based in New York, Premazzi has played in the bands led by trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and saxophonist Greg Osby. She has five previous albums under her leadership, including her excellent debut, Looking For An Exit (CD Baby, 2008).

Part of the humanity Premazzi expresses here is a sense of playfulness, beginning with the opener, a bouncing, sprightly take on the standard "In The Still Of The Night." The still of the night is a joyful wee hour in the hands of Premazzi. Rodgers & Hart's "My Heart Stood Still" gets a similarly ebullient treatment. The pianist has picked her covers well here, with a rolling wave treatment of Thelonious Monk's "Monk's Mood," and the angular (an adjective usually applied to Monk) and deep immersion into the mind of pianist Andrew Hill with "Smoke Stack."

Premazzi shines brightly on the covers but it is her compositions which elevate Wave In Gravity. Her "Between Spheres" is a knotty place of introspection, a circuitous stop-and-start journey, and she adds a gorgeous love song, "I'll Take a Space Ship And Go And Find You," an oddly-titled gem which brings to mind Denny Zeitlin's "Love Theme From The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers," in its title and mood.

The disc's title tune gives Premazzi a chance to display her pianist virtuosity and off-kilter compositional acumen, exploring the beauty of the unexpected. She calls the album "my humble little manifesto of my creativity." Humble little manifestos are where one often finds the most compelling and enduring art, such as Wave In Gravity,