Steve Paul's Trio ALL Review

Trio ALL is making a mark for itself ; New self-named disc features well-informed original tunes and a few pleasant surprises.By Steve Paul

Credit: The Kansas City Star
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Edition: METROPOLITAN, Section: A+E, Page E1


Judging from their new disc, the young jazz players who make up Trio ALL have no shortage of audacious ambition.

From its eclectic, adventurous lineup of tunes to some wonderfully stylish playing, this is a piano trio with a future.

And to think it was pretty much an accident.

"We weren't conceiving of making an album," pianist Mark Lowrey says of the venture. "We just came to the table with a few arrangements each of things we wanted to hear and wanted to play together."

The idea was that he, bassist Ben Leifer and drummer Zack Albetta would get a chance to learn from one another and build up the book of tunes they could play in a growing number of gigs.

"They ended up sounding like an album," Lowrey adds, "in a strangely cohesive way. It was an accidental thing."

And it worked.

Lowrey, a versatile journeyman pianist, impresses with his double-fisted evocations of Mulgrew Miller and McCoy Tyner but also with delicate, edgy phrasings that recall the likes of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett.

Albetta and Leifer are no less inventive and propulsive.

The group launched the disc recently at Jardine's, where the trio is scheduled for a monthly gig beginning July 1. From time to time you can also hear them warming up the bandstand as the rhythm section for vibrant singer Shay Estes.

One thing that contributes to the success of the CD is its natural, concert sound.

"In mixing the record," producer and engineer Eric Honour says, "we did everything we could to capture the feeling of a live event: Each of the instruments has its own well-defined space, and the blend is carefully tailored to preserve clarity and detail, while still placing all the instruments together in a sort of imaginary jazz club. I think that's crucial for a jazz record."

Another is the choice of material.
Three of this disc's seven tunes, more than half of its 43-plus minutes of music, are compositions by Leifer.

The 23-year-old bass phenom still has a semester to go in the jazz program at the UMKC Conservatory of Music, an academic career at least partly stretched out by his active performance schedule the last couple of years.

Leifer's "Time Well Spent" is a bluesy stroll with a descending lyrical line that carries a whisper of Thelonious Monk. In a solo, the bassist takes a laid-back, laconic turn that nevertheless reveals just how much tradition, skill and confidence he has amassed in a relatively short time.

His "Vitality" makes hay with passing quotes of notable modern-jazz favorites, including Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance" and John Coltrane's "Moment's Notice." And the disc closes with Leifer's "New Meaning," which again hints at familiar phrases from deep within the jazz DNA. The tune also gives Lowrey space to stretch and to turn inward with good results.

Of the disc's other works, McCoy Tyner's "Passion Dance" is a high-speed chase that Lowrey and company handle with aplomb.

The trio credits "Dienda" to Mulgrew Miller, but the piece is usually pinned to another pianist, Kenny Kirkland, and it has become a lovely modern classic, popularized by the likes of Branford Marsalis and, with lyrics, Sting. Every time I hear this trio version, I like it even more.

It's no great stretch to tackle a standard like "My Favorite Things," and Trio ALL hardly remakes it, though Albetta injects into it some airy fun as the players give it a rhythmically upbeat lilt.

One surprise on the disc is Albetta's rearrangement of "Ghost Boat," which comes from the playbook of the Barclay Martin Ensemble. Like "Dienda," it starts on ballad turf but winds up in fetching, pop-jazz territory.

Accidents happen. And, in jazz, which is so dependent on improvisation, serendipity and the magic of the moment when musicians play together on a stage, accidents, especially if they sound like this session, are often exactly what you want to hear.

Steve Paul, senior writer and arts editor, 816-234-4762, paul@kcstar.com