Label: ECM Records, 2024

Personnel - Vijay Iyer: piano; Linda May Han Oh: double bass; Tyshawn Sorey: drums.

Revolutionary pianist Vijay Iyer reunites with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, making their second appearance with Compassion, the knockout follow-up to their debut album, Uneasy (ECM, 2021). The trio, denoting a remarkable maturity, presents 12 tracks, including nine originals and three covers.

The album opens with the mesmerizing title track, “Compassion”, characterized by a modern creative gloss and a captivating equilibrium. Soft cymbal rubs and gentle snare pressure set the tone, gradually building alongside subdued bass and poignant pianism, evoking a vast harmonic landscape of emotional depth. “Arch”, dedicated to the anti-apartheid South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, follows suit with a piano figure and poised rhythmic matrix.

“Maelstrom” is a stunning composition rooted in classical protocols yet infused with a forward-thinking jazz feel. Expertly played, it features Iyer’s percussive attack on the lower register at some point, giving it a rock-solid danceability. “Tempest” is wild and metrically challenging, oozing an indomitable energy as the group navigates chord clusters and expresses fleet thoughts in the form of pivotal notes and screwy lines. Both pieces pay homage to the victims of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Iyer drew inspiration from Chicago poet Eve L. Ewing on two selections, namely, the epic “Where I Am”, forging ahead with a robust rhythm and spartan fortitude, and “Ghostrumental”, driven by a nice pop/rock beat.

In addition to original compositions, the bandleader offers interpretations of Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed”, boosted by a kinetic three-time feel, Roscoe Mitchell’s “Nonaah”, a vivacious avant-jazz narrative with fragmentation and dilatation, and a mashup of John Stubblefield’s “Free Spirits” and Geri Allen’s “The Drummer’s Song”.

In the hands of these visionary musicians, jazz remains elegant and transformative. Iyer has proven time and time again that he explores deep, with imagination. Compassion confirms his special talents, echoing with an easy-on-the-ear sophistication.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Compassion ► 02 - Arch ► 04 - Maelstrom ► 06 - Tempest

Label/Year: Resonance Records, 2017

Lineup - Dave Liebman: saxophone, flute; Joe Lovano: saxophone; Phil Markowitz: piano; Ron McLure: bass; Billy Hart: drums.

dave-liebman-joe-lovano-compassion-coltrane

We couldn’t have asked for better! Two veterans and top-notch horn masters like Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano playing together the bright music of John Coltrane in the commemoration of his 50th anniversary on Resonance Records.

Regardless their different styles, approaches, and timbres, the co-leaders seamlessly adjust their eloquent phrasing and give a new life to these iconic pieces.
Compassion: The Music of John Coltrane features the striking duo accompanied by the also experienced Phil Markowitz on piano, Ron McLure on bass, and the great Billy Hart on drums.

“Locomotion”, an electrifying hard-bop tune first recorded in 1957 as part of the acclaimed album Blue Trane (Blue Note), immediately gets the band together for a ‘crazy motion’ as the title suggests. The vivacity that arises from the rhythm section’s coalition instigates Liebman and Lovano to draw vigorous and articulated melodic sequences full of oblique angles and action-reaction momentum.

The effervescence winds down for “Central Park West/Dear Lord”, a smooth medley where Lovano controls the first part with soulful enthusiasm while Liebman is in charge of finding benevolent melodies and take them to the second, as an ode to the Creator.

The mood changes once more on “Olé”, a lavish modal piece that takes us to Spanish traditions, in the present case, more exciting and less harmful than their bullfighting. Sweet flute intonations set the right tone and are quickly joined by the percussive scratches drawn by the piano strings. Moments later, McLure and Hart underpin a Latin-tinged groove that invites the horns for an urgent, magical feast à-la Coltrane. The tune ends with McLure’s bass ruminations.

Both “Reverend King” and “Equinox” bring hope into the world as true conveyers of a beneficial spiritual aura. The former, a push-pull rubato, is built with bowed bass, flute, and cymbal’s splashes; the latter, flowing at a slightly faster pace than the original, is a minor blues coated with Liebman’s rapturous soprano flights, Markowitz’s poised linkage of chords and melodies, and Lovano’s heartwarming tenor strains.

The rhythmic sophistication of Billy Hart stands out on “Compassion”, an almost 18-minute devotion that also expands with the saxophonists’ igneous phrases, which converge into unisons and then scatter up to uproars that go in and out of focus.

Liebman/Lovano quintet strikes with ravishment and gusto, showing their reverence for Coltrane’s legacy while exhibiting their own special gifts.
In addition to knowing inside out the territory they’re stepping into, refinement and dynamism became keys in the process.

Favorite Tracks:
01 – Locomotion ► 03 – Ole ► 06 – Compassion