One of the few modern pianists that combines originality with accessibility, Eva Novoa brings six new pieces to stage for a gig at Brooklyn’s iBeam theatre. Her team of Michael Attias/as-bs, Max Johnson/b and Jeff Davis/dr work both intuitively and dynamically, while Novoa’s compositions and arranging skills sound like she’s imbibed from the Thelonious Monk well, but added her own juices into the glass.
Her subtle use of introducing gongs, and leading into piano lurks on the opening of “Déjà vu” before shifting the band into a soft and whimsical melody that is like a celestial form of Monk’s moods, with Attias’ alto soft and genial. On baritone sax, he and the team get brash and punchy on “Enough” before Novoa flicks her wrist and has the team walk in an intuitive 3 legged race. The team is playful with Attias’ alto veers over Novoa’s splashing and fluttering piano on the kinetic “Why You Here” and the leader slithers over Davis’ deft brushwork while Johnson bows with aplomb on the oozing “Yela.” Davis snaps everyone to attention on the sizzling “Walk on the Moon” as Novoa’s fingers bop like a rock skipping on a lake before the band closes with the free, loose and frisky “Lines and Dots” that has Johnson and Attias in a subtoned mood before finally fading away to the close of the evening set.
Fresh, clever, original and yet still with a foot and some digits in the tradition, Eva Novoa shows she’s hearing something in her head that she wants to share. It’s worth our listening!