For his debut recording, Los Angeles-born pianist Danny Grissett, who played frequently in 2004-05 with such artists as Vincent Herring, Tom Harrell and Nicholas Payton, displays his mastery of the piano trio function. Joined by Vicente Archer (bass), his frequent partner in Payton's quartet, and drummer Kendrick Scott, best known for his work with Terence Blanchard in recent years, Grissett uncorks a polished set of standards (Autumn Nocturne, Everything Happens To Me, Moment's Notice, You Must Believe In Spring) and well-wrought originals.
The centenary of the birth of Charles Mingus, in April 2022, has served to reinforce his importance in twentieth-century music. His “achievements surpass in historic and stylistic breadth those of any other major figure in jazz.” (New Grove Dictionary). Mingus could be angry, even violent, but also loving and tender, and all of these aspects of his complex character are reflected in his music. As he once said, “I'm trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it's difficult is because I am changing all the time.”
Following up his 2007 effort Light On (HighNote), trumpeter Tom Harrell continues to document his original compositional voice and uncommonly tight working band with Prana Dance. Again there's the youthful, hungry lineup of tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, pianist Danny Grissett and drummer Johnathan Blake, with long-serving Harrell stalwart Ugonna Okegwo digging in on bass. The material is all original, all new, teeming with harmonic secrets and an uncanny marriage of the simple and complex, not to mention ample possibilities for elaboration in the live setting—as the band proved during a galvanizing Thursday night set at New York's Village Vanguard in April, 2009.
Tom Harrell has had a lot of success with his series of quintet recordings for HighNote, but his fifth release for the label, which uses the same musicians as the first four CDs (tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, pianist Danny Grissett, bassist Ugonna Okegwo, and drummer Johnathan Blake), takes a different path, featuring the full band on four of the eleven tracks, then in various configurations from solo to duo, trio, and quartet.