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LOUIS DURRA<br />
ROCKET SCIENCE<br />
LOT 50 1201<br />
THE HARDEST BUTTON<br />
TO BUTTON* / ONE LOVE<br />
/ BLACK HORSE AND THE<br />
CHERRY TREE / HOME / EL<br />
MANGO / NINE ELEVEN<br />
/ ACCORDING TO YOU*<br />
/ LIVING IN THE CITY /<br />
BACK IN THE USSR / UN<br />
CANADIEN ERRANT / IN MY<br />
LIFE / LA PUERTA NEGRA.<br />
TOTAL TIME: 45:02.<br />
Louis Durra – p; Ryan<br />
McGillicuddy –b; Jerry Kalaf –<br />
d. on * - Larry Steen replaces<br />
McGillicuddy on b.; no<br />
recording date, Glendale, CA.<br />
New Issues<br />
128 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013<br />
L ouis Durra is a West Coast-based pianist whose trio<br />
has been together for a while (with the exception of<br />
a change of bassist) and it sounds like it. Durra's piano<br />
style is sparse yet melodic and his touch is light and<br />
crisp. Bassist McGillicuddy and Kalaf complement his<br />
style perfectly. There's nothing particularly virtuosic<br />
or "difficult" about this music and there doesn't need<br />
to be. The trio's style perfectly suits the material they<br />
opt to play. On Rocket Science Durra trawls through<br />
popular music of the last 50 years and comes up with<br />
an interesting set.<br />
Durra makes some interesting choices, some of which<br />
work, some don't. The White Stripes' "Hardest Button<br />
To Button" opens things with an oblique, lightly funky<br />
interpretation. Scottish singer K.T. Tunstall's "Black<br />
Horse And The Cherry Tree" also gets a light rhythmic<br />
treatment that highlights bassist McGillicuddy nicely.<br />
The Beatles' "Back In The U.S.S.R." is given one of the<br />
more creative reinterpretations, being slowed down<br />
and unfolding gradually. But elsewhere, this material<br />
doesn't quite make the crossover. Bob Marley's<br />
overplayed "One Love" (he’s written so many better<br />
songs) sounds anonymous with a cliché reggae beat<br />
and sounds a little lifeless because of it. Oddly the other<br />
Beatles track "In My Life" (one of their best tunes) falls<br />
flat as well. One would have wished that Durra had<br />
come up with his own solo rather than copying George<br />
Martin's interlude found in the Beatles’ version of the<br />
song. The one Durra original, "Nine Eleven", is a nice<br />
piece of impressionism that makes one wish Durra<br />
would have focused on his own music a little more.<br />
However, the album passes by smoothly with nothing<br />
that sounds particularly poor. But there's not a whole<br />
lot that will aurally excite the listener either.<br />
Robert Iannapollo
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