The adventurous new CD from Roberta Piket, Ratzo Harris and Billy Mintz featuring nine originals and standards including Cole Porterâs âSo In Loveâ & a daring arrangement of the classic âUp, Up and Awayâ. With special guest tenor saxist Rich Perry.

9 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Bebop, JAZZ: Weird Jazz



Details:
In âLove and Beautyâ Roberta Piket takes the piano trio format to new and exquisite heights. Supported with interactive simpatico by bassist Ratzo Harris and drummer Billy Mintz, Piket soars through a program of engaging originals and standards that clearly defines her as one of the best jazz pianists of her generation.
Piketâs richly evocative music provokes strong responses. At one level, these responses are physical as well as spiritual. Quite literally, this is music that moves both body and soul. At another level, her music elicits associations and memories that while personal also connect to the culture at large.
Piketâs trios have included some of the best players in her home town of New York City. Still, the group heard here featuring Harris and Mintz is something special. With its shared and deeply felt history as a working ensemble, there is a high level of interpersonal musical trust that gives the trioâs open-ended improvisations a compelling immediacy.
The project also reflects a new level of confidence in Piketâs playing. Thereâs an assurance in which her considerable technique is focused on the musicâs larger needs. Abetted by Harris and Mintz, Piketâs explorations of âlove and beautyâ reveal the deep passion of her magnificent musical obsession.
Piket, referring to her decision to use the Billy Mintz original for the projectâs title, says: âToday, invoking words like âloveâ and âbeautyâ is almost rebellious given the politics of division and war which are so pervasive.â
The concept of âbeautyâ as used by classical aestheticians who connected it to âthe sublimeâ gets to the heart of what makes Piketâs work so powerful. While drawing on the legacy of Bill Evansâ great trios, Piket has tapped into a kind of free-ranging spontaneity that lifts all. Though itâs a dangerous game, Piket and her trio thrill us time and again by dancing fearlessly and freely at the edge.
Piketâs âIâm My Everything,â based loosely on Harry Warrenâs âYouâre My Everythingâ (and which she previously recorded on Live at the Blue Note), is a rousing opener. Her solo starts with a two-handed contrapuntalism that evolves into sizzling post-modern jazz. Switching from brushes to sticks, Mintz turns up the heat, as Harris stokes the fire from below.
Written in memory of family member Harvey Nelson, Piketâs poignantly wrought âFor Uncle Harveyâ is at once introspective and quietly celebratory. Here, Piketâs understated, almost minimalistic approach stirs feelings of love and beauty that communicate to all. Note Mintzâs subtle brushwork underneath.
Piketâs exuberant reframing of Jimmy Webbâs âUp, Up and Awayâ is a trio tour de force. Here, the metric flow of the Fifth Dimension hit is dramatically deconstructed into seething theme-and-alteration episodes that flow seamlessly through several meters. Mintzâs dramatic drum solo near the end begins as an experiment in colors, then crescendos into an explosion of pure energy.
The first of Mintzâs three originals is âFlight.â The trio engages the tuneâs formidable, Trane-esque harmonic challenges at a brisque tempo. Among the highlights are Harrisâ jaw-dropping solo, a remarkable duet by Piket and Mintz, and the trioâs deeply grooved sense of swing.
Mintzâs âLove and Beautyâ is a haunting ballad showcasing the trioâs unabashedly romantic side. With its freely inflected meditations, its brooding heart-felt passions unfold with appealing directness. Another of its assets is Harrisâ searingly intense arco melodic statement.
âDestinyâ includes the projectâs biggest surprise in that it introduces Piket as a vocalist. âIâve always been a closet singer,â she shares. âMy mother was a singer. And recently Iâve been singing as well as playing on gigs for senior citizens. The over-90 set,â she offers with a smile, âis a very forgiving demographic.â
Mintzâs ballad, whose lyrics include âOur love, so blind our hearts canât seeâ¦Only love is destiny,â unreels with a smoldering quality reminiscent of Hollywoodâs film noir classics of the Forties. Piketâs plaintive, nearly vibrato-less voice is pitch perfect, musically and dramatically. Adding to the noirish aura is Rich Perry whose hard-boiled yet tender tenor sax is the perfect foil to Piketâs voice.
Piketâs âAlone Aloneâ is an inspired tip-of-the-hat to the singular Lennie Tristano. Based on the standard âAlone Together,â Piketâs bracingly angular line is an effective springboard for the trioâs individual and collective forays. Thereâs a sense of flow that grabs hold and never lets go. Included is an ear-grabbing exchange between Piket and Mintz in which the drummerâs melodic as well as rhythmic gifts take center stage. Harrisâ solo shows off a melodic side of his virtuosity.
In âClaudeâs Clawedâ, the trioâs free-flowing trajectories orbit with audacity. Inspired by her cat Claude but written specifically as a challenge to her bandmates, the pianistâs advanced harmonies set the stage for pantonal explorations both in and out of time.
Cole Porterâs âSo In Loveâ is an effective curtain-closer. Set up as a beguine-like lament with Harrisâ arco bass and Mintzâs mallets, Piket limns Porterâs heartbreaking melody with a longing that is painfully beautiful. Here, as elsewhere, Piketâs perfect use of space boldly sets off her dramatic and broad brushstrokes.
Love and Beauty, by any measure, is a notable achievement. For Piket and her trio, it is a benchmark attesting to the groupâs ever evolving artistry. For listeners, Piketâs trio offers a passion and spontaneity accessible to all. Thereâs something here for everyone (including 90-year-old senior citizens)!
Dr. Chuck Berg, Film-Media Studies, University of Kansas