John Escreet - The Epicenter of Your Dreams

Label: Blue Room Music, 2024

Personnel - John Escreet: piano; Mark Turner: tenor saxophone; Eric Revis: bass; Damion Reid: drums.

With his latest album, virtuosic pianist and intelligent composer John Escreet continues to delve into textures and structures in search of transcendence and surprise. His creative trio, featuring bassist Eric Revis and drummer Damion Reid, is expanded for The Epicenter of Your Dreams with the addition of seasoned tenor saxophonist Mark Turner. The follow-up to Seismic Shift (Whirlwind Recordings, 2022) features an eight-track program with two covers dedicated to influential pianists and six edgy signature compositions that meld rhythmic complexity and harmonic expansiveness.

The album’s leadoff track, “Call It What It Is”, dazzles with its keen sense of harmony and fluidity, showcasing the band’s strong rapport that peaks in adventurous improvisations from Turner and Escreet. The cutting-edged title track, “The Epicenter of Your Dreams”, is a through-composed odyssey that transitions from an intriguing half-awake, half-dreamy reflection to a firmly unfolded pathway wrapped in harmonic splendor. Here, a vibrant saxophone statement jitters through a dynamic vibe that shifts in the final section, allowing for an expressive bass solo over a peaceful two-chord progression.

Stanley Cowell’s “Departure No.1” and Andrew Hill’s “Erato” have the quartet putting an assertive stamp on their anatomical qualities. Swinging joyfully, the former guarantees premium post-bop delivery, culminating in a fanciful drum solo by Reid; the latter, accelerated in tempo, is an unclassifiable piece that transcends conventional jazz moods.

“Meltdown” is a collective improvisation that combines bowed bass, saxophone multiphonics, keyed-up snare patterns, and a myriad of piano constellations with occasional extended techniques. Its exploratory nature matures into the imaginative “Trouble and Activity”, which exemplifies the gear-like machinations of the group’s progressive creativity via a 10-beat cycle brewed with unison lines atop, tensile rhythmic coordination, and a series of deconstructions and expansions that motivate exciting soloing moments. Another standout track, “Lifeline”, hits the spot with sinewy angularity and seamless passages during which the levels of energy never drop.

With the assistance of his quartet mates, Escreet gives a step further in a fascinating display of self-awareness and boundless imagination. His tight blend of traditional jazz elements and modern flights of fancy is so logical and cohesive that will keep listeners eager to revisit his music.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Call It What It Is ► 05 - Trouble and Activity ► 07 - Lifeline

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John Escreet - Seismic Shift

Label: Whirlwind Recordings, 2022

Personnel - John Escreet: piano; Eric Revis: bass; Damion Reid: drums.

The music of John Escreet (David Binney, Antonio Sanchez), an incredibly modern pianist and composer born in the UK and based in L.A., is cryptically meticulous and freeing in its unusual logic. He combines composition and improvisation in a way that surprises at every record.

Like happened with his previous outing, Learn to Live, Seismic Shift, his ninth album as a leader, is worth exploring due to the force and inventiveness of the music. For this one, Escreet enlisted a more than compatible rhythm team of creatives: bassist Eric Revis (Branford Marsalis, Jeff Tain Watts), and drummer Damion Reid (Steve Lehman, Liberty Ellman), and even dedicated them “RD” (short for Revis and Damion), where the bass follows a regular walking step in five, expanding midway, when there’s plenty of harmonic color. Kinetic pianistic flurries dance in and out of scope on top of a challenging rock-solid rhythm. Also developing in five but more meditative, “Perpetual Love” doesn’t inhibit Escreet from exploring the keyboard with a wide tonal range and motion. Yet, the vibe changes on the minute Revis begins a fleet unaccompanied bass statement that will trigger subsequent reactions from piano and drums.

The improvised “Outward and Upward” goes totally abstract, while incorporating different timbres, drones, and cyclic figures. It gains a distinguished form when Revis ignites a 10-beat-cycle arco groove. “Digital Tulips” features Escreet in a two-hand confluence of melodic angularity within an accessible phrasing and harmonic turbulence. And “The Water is Tasting Worse” brings the proceedings to another level, intermingling winding discourses and entrancing rhythmic mechanics. It’s a solid convergence of avant-jazz, electronica, and post-bop ingredients. 

The strongest moments on the album are achieved with the first couple of tracks. “Study No.1” is a fire starter propelled by an unabashed spectacle of intricate rhythms, hypnotic intervals, and mind bending textures; “Equipoise”, which was penned by the respected pianist Stanley Cowell, is less hectic and more melodic, incorporating skimming piano runs to create shivering undercurrents. 

Escreet fires up this blazing new trio with creative explosion, making clear he’s here to stay as one of the most talented pianists around.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Study No. 1 ► 02 - Equipoise ► 09 - The Water is Testing Worse

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John Escreet - Learn To Live

Label: BRM Records, 2018

Personnel – John Escreet: piano, Prophet 6 synth, Fender Rhodes; Greg Osby: alto saxophone; Nicholas Payton: trumpet; Matt Brewer: bass; Eric Harland: drums; Justin Brown: drums.

Innovative keyboardist/composer John Escreet deserves accolade for his new outing, Learn To Live, a set of ten magnificent originals shaped with eclectic gusto, electronic/acoustic genius, and an in-your-face contemporary vibe. His supergroup includes bassist Matt Brewer and drummers Eric Harland and Justin Brown (playing together on four tracks), with whom he forms a highly responsive rhythm section, and a colossal frontline with Greg Osby on alto saxophone and Nicholas Payton on trumpet.

The first track, precisely entitled “Opening”, is a horn-free synth-based art-rock piece that made me think of progressive bands like Yes, Genesis and Soft Machine. With the soulful keyboardist rocking hard like a guitarist, the tune has a meteoric rise in intensity, culminating in an energetic vamp.

Atmospheric dissonances soar on “Broken Justice (Kalief)” at the same time that Harland and Brown push the envelope of stark polyrhythm. The song’s ebbs and flows originate different passages, each one with its specific mood. Hence, there’s Osby’s meditative phrases over the bandleader’s surprising, effect-drenched comping; and by the end, you’ll find Brewer’s firm bass drones immersing the tune in a darker atmosphere. The transition from this piece (written for the late Kalief Browder) to the following, “Lady T’s Vibe”, is simply remarkable. This grooving, chill-out funk manifesto features Payton’s rich melodies and Teresa Lee’s backing vocals. This is no mere nostalgia kick, it’s pure funk-soul pleasure.

Both “Test Run” and “Smokescreen” dive deep in avant-jazz currents. The former, with the two drummers side by side, ends up infiltrating into funk rock territory after Osby's fragmented rapid runs stuffed with angular piquancy. In turn, “Smokescreen” is colorfully introduced by Payton, who rejoices with freedom while conducting ambitious and powerful statements. Escreet keeps him good company, bringing together the ambiguity of modern jazz and the innocuous pleasures of tradition. This blistering frame of mind can be also found in “Contradictions”, a stout, motivic excursion into the modern creative domain. In contrast, there are two balladic numbers, “A World Without Guns” and “Humanity Please”, which reveal a deep consciousness for the problems of our world.

Evolving impressively from beginning to end, the title cut is a mutable, underground electronic romp that starts as an acid jazz work out. Improvising upfront, Escreet is spiky and lively in his sayings, whereas Payton opts for a more cerebral approach over the chord changes. Complementing this long journey of unreserved communication, there is a pressurized passage with ominous vibes and unstoppable, ebullient drumming; a playful vamp with futuristic keyboard psychedelia; and a sort of rock-meets-drum n’ bass section in which the bandleader solos with tasteful intervallic choices.

The album, the first of composed material in five years, mirrors its author’s love of the unexpected, constant search for the new, and a broad stylistic vision. Escreet is indeed a forward-thinking musician and savvy songwriter whose music will delight creative music listeners.

Grade A

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Broken Justice (Kalief) ► 03 - Lady T’s Vibe ► 05 - Learn To Live

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