On his new album 'Inventions/Reinventions,' pianist-composer DanTepfer performs each of Bach's beloved 15 Two Part Inventions interleaved in chromatic sequence by 9 of his own free improvisations in the "missing" keys to create a new full, and fully transporting 24-key experience, a 55-minute mix of the timeless and the contemporary. 300 years ago in 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach initially composed his Two Part Inventions as keyboard exercises for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.
Dan Tepfer — whom New York magazine dubbed “one of the moment’s most adventurous and relevant musicians” — has criss-crossed the globe over the past several years. The broad success of the pianist’s 2011 album Goldberg Variations / Variations — an improvisational exploration of J.S. Bach’s masterpiece — led to packed concerts from London’s Wigmore Hall, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival and SF Jazz in San Francisco to events in Berlin, Prague, Tokyo, Vancouver and Manhattan’s Le Poisson Rouge, with The New York Times declaring the latter performance “riveting and inspiring.” Tepfer followed that with Small Constructions, a studio-savvy 2013 album with reed player Ben Wendel, as well as his ongoing collaboration with sax icon Lee Konitz.
At the respective ages of 90 and 36, alto saxophonist (and jazz eminence) Lee Konitz and trailblazing pianist Dan Tepfer mark their 10th year as collaborators with Decade. Not unlike 2009's Duos with Lee, this album departs from their more common practice of playing standards, instead venturing a music that is freely improvised, structurally open-ended, and ambiguous in mood. Konitz’s inimitable alto cry, which traces back to the late ’40s with Lennie Tristano and Miles Davis, continues to cast a spell, as does Tepfer’s harmonic wizardry and radiant touch. Surprises abound: Tepfer plays alto sax himself on three tracks, and “Through the Tunnel” showcases Konitz spontaneously scat-singing toward the end—a moment of pure inspiration.
Dan Tepfer's third CD as a leader (and second for Sunnyside) again focuses on the pianist's polished originals. This time out Tepfer is joined by bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Ted Poor, performing pieces that he has played with some regularity prior to the sessions. The intense "All I Heard Was Nothing" gives the flavor of being adapted from a classical piece, a dramatic post-bop vehicle where the trio operates like a finely tuned engine.