ON Steinway

Frank Gratkowski, Fred Van Hove, Tony Oxley - GratHovOx (2002) {Nuscope Recordings - nuscope CD 1012}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 290 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 147 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 103 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2002 Nuscope Recordings | nuscope CD 1012
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Improvisation

This is a great radio session recorded in Leverkusen, Germany, on November 14, 2000. GratHovOx embodies everything uninhibited free improv can deliver. The presence of two of the genre's most prestigious veterans certainly has something to do with it. Fred Van Hove performs most of the set on a Steinway D piano. He grabs his accordion for "Foreplay/Vorspiel." Tony Oxley produces an astounding number of different sounds from his acoustic drum kit, keeping the electronics very discreet. Between them stands reedman Frank Gratkowski, using mostly instruments from the clarinet family this time around – his raspy alto sax makes an appearance in the 20-minute "Trenches/Tranches."

Michel Petrucciani worked long and hard to come up with some of the extensive medleys heard in this brilliant solo piano concert, Au Theatre des Champs-Elysees. Much like the intriguing medley "Potpourri" heard on his American debut (100 Hearts), Petrucciani blends a number of recurring themes into a smoldering performance; the 40-plus-minute opening medley includes numerous songs, including "Maiden Voyage," "On Green Dolphin Street" and more. A breakaway run through Monk's "I Mean You" unfolds into a very dramatic arrangement of "'Round About Midnight." His original waltz "Even Mice Dance" is segued into a startling virtuoso adaptation of "Caravan." Two original ballads, "Night Sun in Blois" and "Love Letter," add to the rich texture of this live date.

Recordings of modern piano interpretations of Franz Schubert's Wanderer-Fantasie, Frédéric Chopin's Etudes, Op. 10, Franz Liszt's Réminiscences de Don Juan, and Igor Stravinsky's Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka are plentiful, though the movement for historically informed performances is increasingly influencing how these works are received. For this 2018 Harmonia Mundi release, Alexander Melnikov presents these core repertoire pieces on four different pianos, matching each to an instrument of the proper vintage.

What a shame that Wilton Felder and Wayne Henderson didn't have enough confidence in their legendary trombone/sax chemistry to feature it in the forefront more. Instead they relegate themselves (and the jumpy, soulful groove tracks behind them) to supporting roles behind not simply overtly commercial vocals but super-cheesy ones at that. On "Keep That Same Old Feeling," they tarnish a sharp horn tradeoff with pointless female vocals that remind us we're "jamming with the Jazz Crusaders." Henderson himself hurts a hip new arrangement of "(You've Got) Personality" by singing the lead himself, while "Party Joint" wastes a cool, marching brass sound with a repetitive vocal line that sounds like it came from a bad 70s funk record.