The Curmudgeon: Jazz Legends Proven and Promising
Photo by Erika Kapin
They’re not as well known as Brad Mehldau or Jason Moran, but Myra Melford and Gonzalo Rubalcaba are two of the most impactful pianists working today. Neither of them show off with fast and flashy solos, instead using instinctive note choices and well placed pauses to create a strong force field of feeling. Melford is the co-leader, with the virtuosic drummer Allison Miller, of the Lux Quartet, whose debut album is Tomorrowland. The new band’s name is taken from the Latin word for sunlight, and a bright optimism seems to shine through these unhurried, uncluttered arrangements. This encourages the kind of seductive melodic themes that might lapse into sentimentality if not for the tough-minded bottom provided by Miller and bassist Scott Colley.
Each woman writes three of the eight tunes, with Colley and saxophonist Dayna Stephens contributing one apiece. Melford often plays quick splashes of notes with punctuating pauses as Miller’s rumbling drums push and pull at the time. The beat isn’t always explicit, but when the four instruments reconnect to that throb after wandering around, the effect is thrilling, because it reminds us that the pulse was there all along. The music stretches quite a bit, but it never breaks and always snaps back. This allows us to trust the musicians as they digress far and wide.
Another new album, Collab, is named for the mostly unaccompanied collaboration between Rubalcaba and Hamilton De Holanda. The latter is the David Grisman of Brazil, someone who has not only mastered the mandolin but also expanded its possibilities. Working without horns or a rhythm section, the two acoustic instruments dance around each other in a conversation that can be as ebullient, agitated or melancholy as each piece requires.
What’s most impressive is how quickly they create a mood without words and then tell a story within that framework. Each man contributes three original compositions, supplemented by standards from Brazil and the U. S. The Brazilian harmonica whiz Gabriel Grossi joins the duo on Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing,” and Brazil’s João Bosco sings on his own tune, “Incompatibilidade de Gênios.” That translates from the Portuguese as “The Incompatibility of Geniuses,” but these two musical masterminds communicate telepathically—not only with each other but also with us the listeners.
The harmonica and Brazilian music also collide on yet another new album, Jobim’s World, from another unaccompanied duo, this time featuring American pianist Geoffrey Keezer and French harmonica player Yvonnick Prené. Antonio Carlos Jobim, the Brazilian Ellington who wrote dozens of jazz standards before dying in 1994, composed five of the nine pieces. His earworm melodies and samba syncopation allow Keezer and Prené to playfully twist and turn the originals without ever losing their essential appeal. The duo often functions as a quartet, with Keezer’s left hand as the bass ‘n’ drums, his right hand as the guitar and Prené’s chromatic harmonica as the sax.