Live at the Village Vanguard in Bloomington, MN

Pianist, composer, and bandleader
Uri Caine
takes time out from his myriad projects to record a straight
jazz
trio date at the illustrious
Village Vanguard
. For all of his wonderful quirks and musical personalities,
Caine
is foremost a fine
pianist and stylist. Along with bassist
Drew Gress
and drummer
Ben Perowsky
, that persona is on display here and it shines in a program of originals, a
classic, and
standards
.
's reading of
Wayne Shorter
's now canonical
"Nefertiti"
is elegant and stylish; it's full of twists and turns from the
modal
base and snakes its way through
and popular music history in the solo. The ensemble interplay here is almost symbiotic; each chromatic shift is anticipated by the rhythm section and glides into place. On
's
"Most Wanted,"
the piece begins with a bluesy
Ramsey Lewis Trio
groove shimmer before elliptically mutating into a
Bill Evans
-styled harmonic exploration of the changes and modulations in the tune's melodic intervals -- complete with
Latin
-tinged rhythmic invention by
Perowsky
. The bopped-out, exceptionally long read of
Irving Berlin
"Cheek to Cheek"
amounts to a strident blowing session with
offering double-handed counterpoint at sometimes dizzying speeds. In all, this is a very satisfying date, offering a complex and erudite portrait of the pianist as a monster improviser and an exceptionally sophisticated arranger. ~ Thom Jurek