In the liner notes to his new trio album,
Cool, bassist
Jay Leonhart writes, “I’m afraid
Cool isn’t
nearly as
laid back as the title might imply” and
he’s right.
Rather than the style of jazz, the name refers
to the
Bernstein/Sondheim song from West
Side Story,
which
is just one of the appealing
tracks on an album awash
in colorful arrangements.
Leonhart’s trio, featuring Ted Rosenthal
on piano
and Joe Cohn on guitar, is a
tight ensemble that calls to
mind the classic piano-guitar-bass lineup of
Oscar
Peterson, Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. The trio
hits the
ground running with the first track, “Take
Four”, one
of three tunes on the album written by the
guitarist’s
father Al. Piano and guitar ascend in congruent
lines
before taking turns soloing; during Rosenthal’s
piano
solo, he and Cohn generate tremendous energy
by
comping a fraction of a beat off the other.
The cooperation sets the tone for the rest
of the
album: the piano and guitar
never make the texture
too dense or muddy. Rather, they often work
with
Leonhart’s bass as if they were three
horn soloists,
playing unison lines before diverging on separate
harmonic paths.
“If I Only Had A Brain”, the Yip
Harburg-Harold
Arlen tune from The Wizard
of Oz, is playful
and
unpredictable; if the trio found its
brain, it might stick
to one time signature, but that wouldn’t
be as fun.
“Cool” is one of several numbers
with Leonhart on
vocals and his solo travels from the song’s
mysterious,
quirky motif to stomping blues and back again.
(The
others vocal tunes are “My Bluebird”,
set to music by
pianist Tommy Flanagan and the original “For
Real”).
Other highlights include Duke Ellington’s “C
Jam
Blues”, in a rendition that starts off
refreshingly
reharmonized before becoming a swinging 12-bar
blues; “I Loves You, Porgy”, gentle
and understated,
with Leonhart gracefully soloing throughout;
and
Rosenthal’s bewitching harmonies accompanying
Leonhart on “For Real”. Rounding
out the disc is
music by the Gershwins, Fats Waller and Nat
King
Cole.
— Brian Lonergan
©
All About Jazz - New York, February
2005
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