There’s a pretty good reason you might not have heard of pianist Todd Cochran, even though he’s been “on” the scene for decades. He took a number of years off to raise his son-not a bad call at all, and God’s rewarded his fatherly instincts with a sizzling trio album with bassist Jeff Leftwich and drummer Michael Carvin. The TC3 (as Cochran calls it), is an intuitive unit that mixes swinging post bop with joyful intricacies.
Cochrane does some solo work as well, delivering a Debussyish “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”, a dreamy “You Must Believe In Spring” as well as giving space to Leftwich on “Heretofore IInterstitial 1)” and “Between Spaces (Interstitial II)” and his bowing on “Bemsha Swing” . The two walk together for awhile in a classy style before Carvin finally and subtly drops on a creative take of “Fantaisie-JS Back P relude XX WTC Book II”. Easy swing with Carvin on brushes have the here suave on “Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise” and they flex their muscles on the post bopping “then and Again, Here and Now.” Most clever is a two movement read of “A Foggy Day” with a reclined and reflective opening leading into a cooking second half of the day. These guys give unstandard standards.