Probably more than any unit, the piano jazz trio best reflects the current state of creative affairs in jazz. Here are a some recent messages.
Pianist Artur O’Farrill goes back to his trio format with drummer Zack O’Farrill and bassist Liany Mateo for a mix of originals and jazz standards as well as switching between trio and solo formats. O’Farrill in the threesome creates fragmented and scattered deconstructions of “Dolphin Dance”, while excited and kinetic for “Un Poco Loco”, rumbling around the brushes on the bopping “Obsession” and scrambling on “Utviklingssang”. On his own, he changes moods on a nocturne’d “Pure Emotion”, rumbles through a loose fitting “Doxy” and gets prismatic on an expressive “Darn That Dream”. Bold strokes with a wide paintbrush.
Bassist Nils Kugelmann joins together with pianist Luca Zambito and drummer Sebastian Wolfgruber for a collection of originals. He takes the lead on the skipping “Wild Leaves Falling” and throbs deeply around the chimey ivories of “Late Change”. There is a Mozartian feel on the piano for the elegant “About The Moment of Beginning” and “Stormy Beauty” with Wofgruber guiding via his cymbals. The team gets a bit dark on the pouncy “Finding Your Places” and gallops with style on “Symphony For The Rain”, with a clever 5/4 feel to “Final Run”. Lords a leaping.