Kenny Barron / Dave Holland Trio featuring Johnathan Blake: Without Deception
Dare2 Records

Lara Driscoll Trio: Woven Dreams
Lara Driscoll

Andy Milne and Unison: The reMission
Sunnyside

Never, it seems, has the piano trio been more alive, with releases regularly appearing to show its possibilities have yet to be exhausted, despite having been with us for decades. From Ahmad Jamal and Bill Evans to Geri Allen and Brad Mehldau, the form's refreshed each time a new set of hands tackles it. Recent sets featuring pianists Andy Milne, Lara Driscoll, and Kenny Barron attest to the staying power of the format, which Milne describes as “perhaps one of the most heralded and revered configurations for pianists.”

In coupling two icons with a terrific young drummer, Without Deception charms for the mere fact of its personnel, Barron on piano, Dave Holland on bass, and Johnathan Blake on drums. From the opening “Porto Alegre” to the closing “Worry Later,” the listener's captivated by the assurance that informs the ten performances. Barron and Holland bring staggering professional backgrounds to the project, the Philadelphia-born pianist and British bassist living personifications of jazz history. Whereas Barron's CV lists associations with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and Ron Carter, Holland's boasts stints with Miles Davis, Anthony Braxton, Chick Corea, and Gary Burton, not to mention the solid discography he's built as a leader.

The rapport between the co-leaders developed over many years, the documented evidence of which began with the pianist's 1985 trio album Scratch and carried on to their 2014 duo effort The Art of Conversation. Completing the mix on Without Deception is fellow Philadelphian Blake, whose previous work with the pianist adds to the comfortable vibe. Consistent with the album title, the playing exudes authenticity, the blend of Barron's lyricism, Holland's unerring choices, and Blake's engagement making for an eminently pleasurable listen. The feeling created is of friends gathering to dig into a set of tunes, six by the co-leaders and the rest by Ellington, Monk, Mulgrew Miller, and Barron protégé Sumi Tonooka.

The session's easy-going tone is set by Barron's “Porto Alegre,” an infectiously swinging take on bossa nova. The pianist's playing oozes swing, his solo particularly delicious, and his partners complement his musings with lightly grooving accompaniment. It's hardly the only enchanting performance on the release, however. While Miller's honoured by an ebullient take on “Second Thoughts,” Ellington's influence looms large in the trio's handling of “Warm Valley,” a version so lovely it'll make you fall for the tune all over again. Barron and company swing irrepressibly in the bluesy “Without Deception,” the pianist flirting with Monk in a few off-kilter phrases and the others delivering fresh bop-inflected turns of their own. It's also refreshing to see a less familiar Monk tune being covered, his “Worry Later” a prototypically arresting affair.

Though penned by Holland, “Pass It On” is as much a showcase for Blake, who opens it unaccompanied before his partners enter to help animate the tune's R&B-inflected shuffle. On an album that's often pitched at a relaxed tempo, “Speed Trap” lunges from the gate, the trio leaving no doubt it can navigate a spiraling roller-coaster when it sees fit. All three are in fine form on the set, though special mention must be made of Barron, who's at an invigorating high throughout. Whether the tune's a lyrical ballad or swinging exercise, his playing never fails to reward.

Whereas Without Deception continues Barron's long-standing association with the classic trio format, The reMission presents Andy Milne's first engagement. Not that you'd know it from the result: the fifty-minute recording plays like the work of musicians with years of trio experience under their belts, even if that's not the case. The album title's a play on words, remission referring both to Milne's recovery from the cancer diagnosis he received in 2017 and a declaration of purpose reflecting his decision to take on the trio challenge. The move's a particularly interesting one, seeing as how it reverses the typical route: rather than advancing from the trio to a larger ensemble, the pianist's followed 2019's The Seasons of Being by his Dapp Theory outfit to the Unison trio featured here. Coupling eight Milne originals with covers of McCoy Tyner and Benny Golson, the album augments the leader with bassist John Hébert and drummer Clarence Penn, the result a powerful example of trio interplay and harmonic sophistication.

The three lay into Tyner's “Passion Dance” as if it's been a staple for years. In a spirited performance, Unison comes at the tune's hard-bop from multiple angles, lithe one moment and angular the next. Milne's “Resolution” pivots from the breeziness of its opening into an inwardly focused meditation that sees pensive piano explorations accented by textural shadings from the rhythm section. The introspective reading of “Anything About Anything” and elegant treatment of Golson's “Sad To Say” flatter Milne, capturing as they do his delicate touch and poised approach to the keyboard. “Winter Palace” is animated by an insistent ostinato that adds an extra layer of tension to the performance, especially when Milne seems intent on pursuing a number of winding melodic pathways. The leader's role switches during "Vertical on Opening Night” when Milne's chiming chords function as a backdrop to Hébert's solo expression, and something similar happens during the abstractly funky “Geewa,” with this time Penn asserting a more dominant presence.

Milne's compositions are anything but toss-offs written on the fly; in fact, so genuine a portrait are they of him as a composer, The reMission plays as much like an individual artist statement as trio recording per se. That said, the contributions made by Hébert and Penn shouldn't be glossed over. Their connection to Milne is consistently empathetic, and the spotlights they take are as thoughtfully handled as the leader's. Collectively, the performances demonstrate a level of finesse one more expects from a trio that's been together for years than one recently hatched.

Completing this trio of trios is one fronted by Lara Driscoll, who steps forth with a debut album of considerable appeal. While she's Chicago-based, much of Woven Dreams has a strong Montréal connection, as it presents the trio she led during graduate studies in jazz performance at McGill University and during her stay in the city; bassist Paul Rushka and drummer Dave Laing even performed some of the album material at her master's recital. This debut set bodes well for Driscoll's future, given the warmth and expressiveness of her playing and the methodical approach she brings to its pieces, seven thoughtful originals and covers of Porter, Strayhorn, Jobim, and Vernon Duke. As comfortable as Woven Dreams sounds, tension emerges in the juxtaposition of time-honoured standards and forward-thinking originals, as well as in the kind of discombobulation intimated in “Airport Limbo” that results from traveling between cities.

Her handling of Duke's “Autumn in New York” manifests that tension in the smart harmonic reimagining she brings to the song. Her strategy—letting the melody direct interesting ways to harmonize it—preserves the integrity of the original while also allowing a fresh stamp to be imposed upon it. Working with block chords and metre changes (the thematic statement in 4/4 and the solos in three), Driscoll recasts the tune as an elegant, brooding meditation that complements the playing styles of the musicians and grants the melodies room to breathe. Elsewhere, her solo rendering of Strayhorn's “Isfahan” is exquisite, whereas the trio's relaxedly funky cover of Jobim's “O Morro Nao Tem Vez (Favela)” is a soulful treat.

From the entrancing “Siblings” to the closing title rumination, Driscoll's originals show her to be as strong a writer as player. Mention must be made of the ambitious, three-part suite “Forgiving - Black Dog Skirts Away,” which sees her drawing for inspiration from Fred Hersch's “Black Dog Pays a Visit” and exploring the impact of depression in imaginative manner. To embody the “black dog,” she has a three-note motif recur, its repeated presence testifying to the state's tendency to incapacitate over and over.

May 2020