Chris Abrahams

Julie Sassoon

If You Can’t Go Outside … Go Inside

JazzWerrkstatt JW 216

Benoît Delbecq

The Weight of Light

Pyroclastic Records PR 13

Dominik Wania

Lonely Shadows

ECM 2686

Kari Ikonen

Impressions, Improvisations and Compositions

Ozella OZO 97 CD

While perhaps not as individual as purported Inuit lore insists each snowflake is, improvisers approach to solo playing can be representatively unique even when playing as traditional an instrument as the piano. Spanning two continents and many countries, these solo piano discs confirm the maxim.

While two tracks of nearly 20 minutes and slightly more than 12 minutes are the sum total of If You Can’t Go Outside … Go Inside, they are probably the freest ever recorded by Julie Sassoon. While she usually works in group settings, the tracks’ sound suggests that the Manchester-born, Berlin-based keyboardist plugs into automatic transference, creating aleatoric music that truly flows through her without preconceptions. The lengthier “At the Water Tower” for instance evolves from a lyrical kernel to repetitive patterns that become an unstoppable loop even as ebullient swing is present. Soon the unbroken exposition becomes more intense and pressurized as metronomic currents turn louder and harder. Full keyboard glissandi and singular clips recur frequently while the exposition undulates, climaxing as affiliated keyboard cross tones and soundboard echoes are added until the performance slows and ends As vivace as the former track is solemn, the elaboration of “Murmuration” echoes languidly from the soundboard until the improvised thread turns allegro, displaying a glossy fluidity so that isolated keyboard notes and inner piano vibrations are expressed with equal facility. A quieter processional section speeds up for the final resolution.

Using a prepared piano, French keyboardist Benoît Delbecq cycles through nine compositions on The Weight of Light emphasizing weight more than light. Almost every tone is transformed with the percussive sounds created by objects juddering against or on top of the strings. Additionally most keys are stopped, with the resulting reverberations derived with plucks and twangs. Sometimes this interface is dazzling. For instance “Pair et impair” evolves as if two pianists are involved, each projecting timbres from opposite sides of the scale, with the almost continuous jabs vibrating multiple notes and tones. Other tracks such as “Family Trees” are excessively percussive with internal woody thunks contrast with delicate key dusting on top. Although Monk-like hesitancy, outlined single plucks or even ebullient bounces are emphasized on other tracks the default is heaviness, with patterns looping back to the instrument’s wood qualities. “Anamorphoses” is the defining instance of this, where a literal touch of mid-range romanticism is subsumed as knife-like key thrusts and string stops circle the narrative back to high-pitched pressure.

The variable drones with subtle shifts inferred in the Sassoon and Delbecq sessions are given greater prominence on Chris Abrahams’ disc. Member of the Australian Necks trio, the pianist brings the same time suspension and timbral impulses perfected by that band to his solo session. Following an impressionistic introduction of cascading timbres, Abrahams demonstrates a rhapsodic elaboration of a basic theme at lengthy – the first two tracks – or briefly – on the final track – narratives. Creating a near-hypnotic overlay, the initially slowly unrolling theme usually maintains the same pitch and pace. But at junctures, especially on “Surface Level” soothing or spiky variants are more prominent, as are swelling multi-note connections or individually outlined notes. In that same variant pedal work stretches the continuous exposition with spatial emphasis sometimes bringing bottom board vibrations into the mix. Since the theme is given multi emphasis, the mesmerizing motif becomes time-suspending. Even the 20 minute first track speeds by as if it was completed in two.

Romantic impulses mostly eschewed by the other players are emphasized on Polish pianist Dominik Wania’s elegant Lonely Shadows. Heir to the traditional of Eastern European impressionism, his interpretations are the only ones here that could be called beautiful. Yet he’s perceptive enough to apply a layer of restrain to his commanding keyboard presence. As he works through the 11 selections measuring every timbre and tone before they’re played, Wania displays fluent technique that finds equal expression in stirring glissandi, chromatically splayed textures and brief barbed bent note detours. He’s able to advance lento with equal facility with high-pitched tinkles or bottom tones as on “AG76”. Yet despite the pace, that performance never loses its bouncy forward motion. A track like “Liquid fluid” on the other hand is filled with dappled variations, where resemblance to a baroque chamber piece is undercut by allegro note sprinkles and later ever widening cascades. Notably as well, within its adagio extension “Towards the Light” manages to resemble an ecclesiastical dirge as it spins out a relaxed melody as elevated key statements are immediately followed by responses from the piano’s lowest notes.

The most personal as well as the most comprehensive program is Kari Ikonen’s Impressions, Improvisations and Compositions. Although recorded on his own piano in Helsinki, the dozen themes he plays are appropriate melodies associated with Arabic maqams, one that recasts a Jazz standard and express his improvisation inspired by paintings by Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. While skillful and capable, the sound pictures painted on the other tracks are jazzy, elliptical and in the case of the concluding “The Evergreen Earth” appropriately solemn and horizontally emphasized. But it’s the maqams and visual art interpretations which stand out. The briefer Kandinsky salutes work either by cunningly ascending from low to high pitches in one case or concentrating on chiming impressionism on “Blue”. However the study of the Klee work is an icy, juddering exposition that unites in a restrained manner from what could result from scraping a metal comb along the strings. Based on Arabic melodic modes the maqams bend and shape notes that build on traditional patterns. “Taqsim on Maqam Saba” for example sways into a vibrating theme after introducing rhythmic snaps. “Trance Oriental” on the other hand suggests some of McCoy Tyner’s modal associations as it slowly evolves and turns back on itself, introducing Occidental gaiety as it expands traditional forms.

Each pianist has come up with a distinctive way to shape the piano keyboard to singular concepts. Each is equally valid, with appreciation depending on individual preferences.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Outside: 1. At the Water Tower 2. Murmuration

Personnel: Outside: Julie Sassoon (piano)

Track Listing: Weight: 1. The Loop of Chicago 2. Dripping Stones 3. Family Trees 4. Chemin sur le crest 5. Au fil de la parole 6. Anamorphoses 7. Havn en Havre 8. Pair et impair 9. Broken World

Personnel: Weight: Benoît Delbecq (piano)

Track Listing: Lonely: 1. Lonely Shadows 2. New Life Experience 3. Melting Spirit 4. Towards the Light 5. Relativity 6. Liquid fluid 7. Think twice 8. AG76 9. Subjective objectivity 10. Indifferent 11. All What Remains

Personnel: Lonely: Dominik Wania (piano)

Track Listing: Impressions: 1. Imprologue 2. Maqtu’ah on Maqam Rast 3. Pinocchio 4. Rausch 5. Taqsim on Maqam Saba 6. Blue 7. Violet 8. Koto 9. Oppressive 10. Three-Chord Blues 11. Trance Oriental 12. The Evergreen Earth

Personnel: Impressions: Kari Ikonen (piano)

Track Listing: Appearance: 1. As A Vehicle, A Dream 2. Surface Level 3. As A Vehicle, A Dream (excerpt)

Personnel: Appearance: Chris Abrahams (piano)