Vijay Iyer with guest Talvin Singh
Leszek Mozder and Lars Danielsson
Purcell Room, London
15 November 2009

One of the pamphlets promoting the 2009 London Jazz Festival suggested various thematic ?trails? through its plethora of shows, an apparent attempt to focus on particular trends and commonalities. Among them was the piano trail, which presumably included both of these performances by Iyer and Mozdzer, as well as a subsequent gig by Stefano Bollani that I have also reviewed for the site. It?s a great idea, highlighting as it does the diversity of approaches to a particular instrument and the range and depth of what?s on offer in jazz, even within the notionally narrow confines of a particular sub-genre.

Leszek Mozdzer is apparently the best-selling jazz artist in Poland, where he is also renowned for his work in theatre. At the Purcell Room he performed a subtly nuanced two-way dialogue with double bassist Lars Danielsson, a relationship the two men have sustained through performances and recordings over five years, resulting in a close and subtle empathy. Mozdzer?s style is fluent and song like, even when he adds preparations that produce a harpsichord- or spinet-like sound at the keyboard?s higher range.  Danielsson?s lissom and plummy tone is an ideal counterpoint. While a number like Pasodoble, the title track from the duo?s 2007 album, may be boldly percussive, the rapport between Mozdzer and Danielsson retained a characteristic gossamer intensity throughout. They subsequently followed a fast, intellectually playful song with another altogether more autumnal and nostalgic piece, which mood they carried over into the final number, Suffering, which belied the negative connotations of its title with beguiling grace and refinement. The more sombre compositions, I noted, were all Danielsson?s. When the set was over a rapturous ovation from a captivated audience bought the duo back to the stage for a rhythmically agile and wholly song like encore.

Vijay Iyer has impressed many listeners (including theJazzmann) with his recent album, Historicity, so it was surprising that his mostly solo headlining set at the Purcell Room included only two tracks from it. As a listener new to Iyer I found Trident, from that album, to be much of a piece with both a new composition titled Testing, with which Iyer started the set, and his take on Michael Leonard’s I?m All Smiles (which I know from Betty Carter, but didn?t recognise; perhaps Iyer had Barbara Streisand?s version in mind) that followed it. Iyer?s sound, in pleasing contrast to Mozdzer?s, was full-blooded and sonorous, and his stance at the keyboard was bold and assertive where Mozder had been altogether more lissom. Iyer?s was a compelling performance, but there?s something distancing about his manner that?s hard to warm to. In fairness, it is much easier it is to succumb to a musical dialogue than it is to warm to a recital, which this seemed to be. I had no sense that Iyer was improvising, though of course I could be wrong about that. I don?t know whether his fourth number, Autoscopy, bears any relationship to a (no longer available) download-only ?mixtape? of the same title, compiled by Iyer, which featured his own material alongside tracks by Andrew Hill, Cecil Taylor, Geri Allen, Randy Weston and Sun Ra, but I suspect not since it was a beautifully precise meditation on a single idea. Iyer concentrated on a relatively narrow cluster of rapidly fingered notes and exploited them to entrancing effect. It was the only piece that fully drew me in, which is rather ironic since it is, as Iyer confided, a song about “out-of-body experiences”. The following take on Duke Ellington?s Black and Tan Fantasy was also excellent, with Iyer loosening up somewhat and indulging in a touch of Weill-like theatricality.

He then surprised everyone by announcing Talvin Singh to the stage, instantly promising to lift the whole event to another level. Their collaboration, however, was only partially successful. The first joint number had an engrossing cyclical motif which Singh?s tablas locked into adroitly, but the following take on Stevie Wonder?s Big Brother was, as in its trio version on Historicity, rather too inflexible for my tastes. Whatever Iyer?s undoubted gifts are they include nothing akin to Wonder?s soulfulness, and he appears not to have a funky bone in his body. Singh was also deferential to a fault, exhibiting none of the virtuosity of which he is more than capable. Still, he added a fresh new dimension to Iyer?s sound, pointing up the strength and confidence of Iyer?s composing and arranging. Since these two numbers were the only ones they had rehearsed Singh then bowed out, and although Iyer continued his solo recital I was happy enough to leave, having already been duly impressed.

Stefano Bollani Trio with Enrico Rava
Kings Place, London
19 November 2009

This concert was the second of four nights in a Kings Place residency by the Italian pianist Stefano Bollani, on each night of which he performed in a different setting. He initially took to the stage with his regular trio partners Jesper Bodilsen on double bass and drummer Morten Lund, and immediately impressed me as the most song like and creatively uninhibited of the three pianists I?d recently seen and heard during the London Jazz festival, the others being Vijay Iyer and Lesjek Mozder (their joint concert is reviewed elsewhere on the site). In contrast to both Mozder?s assured delicacy and Iyer?s angular formality, Bollani is dynamically playful. He jokes with his colleagues and his stance at the keyboard is informal; in Italy he is well known as a comedian as well as a musician. Yet the first pieces, Waiting and the title track from their trio album Stone in The Water, shared a powerful dynamic momentum within which Bollani created pockets within which the rhythm section, particularly Lund, could effectively combust; it was a fine demonstration of potency tempered by restraint.

Before the third piece Bollani introduced the “maestro”, the slender and dignified Enrico Rava to the stage. After some banter in Italian they played Interiors from Rava?s recent New York Days album, just the latest document of Bollani and Rava?s fruitful partnership. On stage Bollani was capricious while Rava seemed insouciant, evidently reluctant to hog any of Bollani?s limelight and not above comping. Rava is a perfect foil to Bollani in many ways; thirty years the senior, Rava has a certain gravitas despite a faintly bohemian air that sits well with Bollani?s informality. His tone can be pungent as well as romantic, just as Bollani is, all light-heartedness aside, a serious musician. A snappy, swinging take on Dear Old Stockholm that had Lund excelling in a limber workout, equal parts Joey Baron and Jack De Johnette, was enough to demonstrate that these qualities are also shared by Bodilsen and Lund.

The second set began with a Bollani/Rava duet, Rava?s Algir Dalbughi I think, that came close to boogie-woogie style (though not in the Jools Holland sense). Rava produced brief declamatory runs as, with Bollani in fast and fluent accompaniment they embraced allusions to numerous styles, quoting Ellington?s It Don?t Mean a Thing, and at times veering toward the sound of Carl Stalling?s music for classic Warner Bros. cartoons with similarly adroit shifts in mood and emphasis. The quartet then returned for a piece taken at a contrastingly relaxed tempo. As the set progressed Bollani was carefree, at times playing with one arm hanging limp like a boxer indicating his control and authority. Rava, when not soloing with measured, burnished grace leant back in the curve of the piano, smiling with admiration at the empathy between Lund and the ever understated Bodilsen. Lund took two rowdy and crowd-pleasing solos, hard on the heels of the second of which Rava initiated another down-tempo piece and took a magnificent solo full of plangent emotional resonance. Bollani then took his own extended solo, his first of the night, emphasising once more how effectively his music is suffused with his colourful personality.

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