AARON PARKS
TRIO
Shadows
Keynote Records
779 800 042-2
The key to enjoying pianist Aaron Parks’ debut CD is to forget that
he and his trio are teenaged musical prodigies. Just close your eyes and
listen to the first track, an adaptation of Radiohead’s “Knives
Out”: there’s a patience and an attention to space and nuance
that is rare even in seasoned jazz professionals. I especially liked Calvaire’s
edgy drum work on this – over the length of the cut, it sounds as
if he’s about to bust out in a fusillade of fills, but he never does.
The rest of the CD is just as poised and authoritative. Parks, a student
at the Manhattan School of Music and a protégé of veteran
jazz pianist Kenny Barron, isn’t just another young piano stud. His
four original compositions ( “Shortly,” “Shadows,”
“Dancing By Myself,” and “Memory of a Flame”) soulfully
demonstrate Parks’ fondness for tricky meters, odd harmonies, and
sudden dynamic shifts. The title track is my favorite; a somewhat brooding
piece with metric and harmonic departures that cut through the somber
mood like shafts of brilliant light. Calvaire digs into this piece with
gusto, and bassist Matt Brewer wraps it up with a brief, deeply felt,
coda. Parks’ unaccompanied piano solo that opens “Dancing By
Myself” manages to be lyrical and angular, sweet, but not sentimental.
“Memory of a Flame” is a spare, gospel-tinged elegy topped by
an expressive guitar-like bass solo by Matt Brewer. This is not the sort
of stuff I normally associate with teenaged prodigies. On the other hand,
I am old enough to know that life is full of pleasant surprises like this.
The trio certainly doesn’t sleepwalk through the standards, either.
Calvaire opens a loose three-way conversation with Parks and Brewer on
“Alone Together, ” and Brewer follows Parks’ freewheeling
piano solo with a simmering, melodic statement. “Solar,” strongly
associated with the late Bill Evans, gets a light, humorous treatment:
almost as if it was a Monk tune.
Don’t be put off by the peach fuzz: the Aaron Parks Trio has as much
to say as most players twice their age. Shadows is a fine debut, downright
stunning in places, and I look forward to hearing more.
-- Dave Wayne
Track Listing: 1. Knives Out; 2. Shortly; 3. Shadows; 4. Alone Together;
5. Dancing by Myself; 6. Solar; 7. Memory of a Flame
Personnel:
Parks, piano; Matt Brewer, bass; Obed Calvaire, drums; Ambrose Akinmusire,
trumpet (2 only)