Kate Wyatt Trio: Murmurations
Kate Wyatt

I had the distinct pleasure of seeing the Kate Wyatt Trio perform at last August's Markham Jazz Festival and, buoyed by her in-set announcement of its imminent release, have ever since excitedly anticipated the arrival of the Montréal-based pianist's Murmurations. Throughout the riveting hour-long live set, she, bassist Adrian Vedady, and drummer Louis-Vincent Hamel showed both how deeply they'd internalized the recently recorded album material and the telepathic sensitivity the three have forged since initiating their journey together. Now that the follow-up to Wyatt's 2022 debut album Artifact is here, it's clear Murmurations signifies a pronounced advance in the pianist's career and development.

Any number of the tracks could have served as the album title, but “Murmurations,” one of six Wyatt originals on the eleven-track release, is most apt for mirroring the graceful flow the trio gets up to. The arresting image of starlings swirling in tandem is an apt metaphor for the synergistic movements of the trio members and their intuitive grasp of the music's direction. Like the starling, each player is attentive to the inflections of the others and sympathetically responsive to them. As mentioned, the lion's share of the compositions are Wyatt's, but Vedady and Hamel contribute tunes too, three in the bassist's case and one in the drummer's.

The sole cover, a terrific version of Weill's “Mack The Knife” introduces the album. One of the key moves made by arranger Vedady was to reharmonize the melody, which gives it a fresh and unusual spin and renders it a tad less recognizable (in that spirit, at the live show Wyatt coyly challenged listeners to identify the tune by not disclosing its title beforehand). The sophistication of Wyatt's playing is evident throughout the album, beginning with the prettiness with which she eases the trio into its lyrical rendition. The trio's fluidity is also present in the invention with which Vedady and Hamel respond to the ebb and flow of her playing. Murmurations abounds in solos by the leader, but her partners enjoy multiple spotlights too, with both working imposing turns into the Weill treatment. It's Kate's group, yes, but a fine balance is consistently achieved between these fellow adventurers.

Up next, the title track proves she's no slouch in the composing department either. Grounded in a haunting theme, “Murmurations" adds a pensive, even poetic tone to the set as Wyatt probes deeply into the material whilst liberally elaborating on it. Once again the nuanced interplay reminds us of the attentiveness and responsiveness of each trio member. Things turn Latin-tinged and soulful for Wyatt's “Coruscation,” with a toms-focused Hamel seemingly channeling late Tony Williams (see “Geo Rose” from 1987's Civilization), Vedady tastefully grounding the trio, and the pianist sprinkling the swinging performance with an angular lead melody, bluesy voicings, and block chords. Her two-part “Finding” and “Patience” sees an unaccompanied Wyatt soloing reflectively in the first before another of her signature haunting themes guides the trio through its paces on the second. Her “Going to the Sun” and “Succession” likewise register as strong vehicles for dynamic trio interplay, especially when both find Hamel powering their high-intensity passages.

As the pretty “Sunrise” proves, Vedady's not only a special bassist but a solid writer too. The performance also captures how seamlessly the trio is able to expand and contract as it builds to a climax and then eases down from it. Inspired by a Bill Frisell quote, the bassist's “Music is Beautiful” closes the album with a thoughtful rumination on music's endless capacity for lifting spirits and nourishing the soul. Listeners familiar with George Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo will already know the dark and shadowy realms Hamel's entering via “Bardo” and his own inspired take on the Buddhists' beliefs about the liminal state between death and rebirth.

November 2025