LESTER BOWIE

House of Pianos
Dick Hyman (Arbors)
by Alex Henderson
Dick Hyman, now 89, has not been an easy artist to
categorize throughout his career. Jazz of the prebop
variety (mainly stride piano and swing) has played a
prominent role in his recorded output, yet he has
hardly been oblivious to bop. Hyman’s versatility is
very much in evidence on House of Pianos, recorded
live at Farley’s House of Pianos in Madison, Wisconsin
on Jun. 1st, 2014. Farley’s is not a jazz club but, rather,
a store that sells and repairs pianos. Farley’s also offers
educational clinics as well as concerts and Hyman
lectured there the day before he performed.
Hyman, playing unaccompanied, tackles
everything from Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the
Clowns” and three Thelonious Monk gems (“Blue
Monk”, “Ugly Beauty” and “Misterioso”) to the Jerome
Kern standards “Yesterdays” and “All the Things You
Are”. Hyman plays two originals as well: his theme
from Woody Allen’s 1985 film The Purple Rose of Cairo
and music (originally played on organ) from a late
‘60s-early ‘70s version of the game show Beat the Clock.
Listening to Hyman’s spirited six-minute version of
Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train”, one can hear
that he admires Duke Ellington, for whom the song
was written, as not only a bandleader and arranger,
but also as a pianist.
Hyman has lived through a lot of jazz piano
history: he reached adolescence during the Swing Era
and was a young adult when Thelonious Monk and
Bud Powell became influential in the bop world. His
love of a broad range of piano styles continues to serve
him well on House of Pianos.
For more information, visit arborsrecords.com. Hyman is at
Saint Peter’s Jun. 15th and at Tribeca Performing Arts
Center Jun. 16th as part of Highlights in Jazz. See Calendar.
30
Trio Da Paz (ZOHO)
by Marcia Hillman
In this age of instant stardom and obsolescence, it is a
miracle when a group stays together for 30 years. Trio
Da Paz celebrates this event with their newest, aptlytitled
album. The trio—Romero Lubambo (guitar),
Nilson Matta (bass) and Duduka Da Fonseca (drums)—
are virtuoso musicians from Brazil now based in New
York City. This album not only features their
musicianship but also demonstrates their talent as
composers with four songs by Lubambo, three by
Matta and a pair by Da Fonseca. The only non-original
is “Samba Triste” by legendary guitarist Baden Powell,
an early virtuoso of Brazilian jazz.
Uptempo items such as Lubambo’s “Sweeping The
Chimney” and “Samba Triste” spotlight the guitarist’s
chord voicings and lightning-speed runs while Matta’s
command of both the high and low registers of his
instrument and Da Fonseca’s pulsing drumwork and
playing of complex rhythms (as in “Alana” where he
changes meter from 15/8 to 6/8 to a double 4/4 time
and back to 15/8 with incredible ease) is featured
throughout.
30 years of working together has produced a group
that is of one musical mind. A prime example of this is
on Matta’s “Aguas Brasileiras” where Lubambo’s solo
is picked up by Matta for his lead in his highest register
so seamlessly that it takes a few seconds before you
realize that you are no longer listening to the guitar but
to the bass. Kudos to Trio Da Paz for capturing the
sheer joy they feel when making music together.
For more information, visit zohohomusic.com. This group is
at Tribeca Performing Arts Center Jun. 16th as part of
Highlights in Jazz. See Calendar.
The Three Voices
Victor Prieto (s/r)
by Matthew Kassel
The accordionist Victor Prieto, instruments in hands,
looms large and jubilantly over a city skyline on the
cover of his new album. The skyline is actually two
cities mashed together, which is easy to miss if you
aren’t looking closely: New York and Ourense, Prieto’s
home city in northwestern Spain. The cover, Prieto
said in an email, represents his music and his life
between two cities, two continents and two cultures
(Galician Celtic and urban American).
Prieto now lives in New York, where you don’t
find too many jazz accordion players. That gives him a
secret advantage: he can assert himself on the scene as
a leader and establish an easily recognizable voice.
That comes out in more ways than one on his fifth
release as a leader, as the name suggests. Prieto uses
the record to showcase, in the last couple of tracks (the
title track and “The Vibration”), a style of Mongolian
throat singing in which he manipulates his vocal
chords independently to make a multi-tonal braid of
sound. While intriguing, this is hardly the highlight of
the disc, which mostly features Prieto’s own sprightly,
dance-based compositions. (There are two covers:
“Michelangelo 70”, by Argentine composer Astor
Piazzolla, and “Two Door”, by jazz guitarist Brad
Shepik, who doesn’t appear on the record.)
Prieto’s voice is most impressive when he puts his
incredibly dexterous fingers to his instrument and you
can hear, as in the first track “Chatting With Chris”, the
physicality of the act. At one point, he makes his
accordion wheeze with the intensity of a full church
organ while in the last few seconds of “Recuerdos”, he
elongates a high note that sounds strikingly similar to
a violin. Guests include pianist Arturo O’Farrill (his
appearance on the plaintive ballad “Papa Pin” is
particularly lovely), saxophonist John Ellis, violinist
Meg Okura and Cristina Pato on gaita, a kind of
Spanish bagpipe. Jorge Roeder on bass and Eric Doob
on drums round out the rhythm section.
For more information, visit victorprieto.net. This project is at
Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia Jun. 21st. See Calendar.
THE STONE RESIDENCIES
LOUIE BELOGENIS
JUNE 21-JUNE 26
Andrew Bemkey
Blue Buddha
Rob Brown
Daniel Carter
Dave Douglas
Charles Downs
Trevor Dunn
Ken Filiano
Flow Trio
Lou Grassi
Mark Hennen
Dave Hofstra
Darius Jones
Adam Lane
Bill Laswell
Russ Lossing
Tony Malaby
Joe McPhee
Billy Mintz
Ikue Mori
Joe Morris
William Parker
Roberta Piket
Ryan Sawyer
Matthew Shipp
Ches Smith
Tyshawn Sorey
Twice Told Tales
Michael Wimberly
Kenny Wollesen
Latest release:
Blue Buddha
Tzadik 4010
★★★★½
— Downbeat Magazine
★★★★½
— The Sydney Morning Herald
Best Jazz of 2015
— Burning Ambulance
full calendar at thestonenyc.com
THE STONE is located at the corner of avenue C and 2nd street
24 JUNE 2016 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD