2008-07-02
Jazz Improv by John Cizik - Review
ONE SKY- Motema Music. www.motema.com, www.ryancohan.com. Double Agent; Easy For You To Say; Six Fortunes; Checkmate; Lush Life; One Sky; Tone Poems For Humanity; I. Into Being [part 1]; I. Into Being[part 2]; II. Wonder & Response; III. Awe; IV. Hope.
PERSONNEL: Ryan Cohan, piano; Bob Sheppard , tenor & soprano saxes, flute, alto flute: Geof Bradfield, tenor & soprano saxes, bass clarinet: Tito Carrillo, trumpet, flugelhorn: James Cammack, bass: Lorin Cohen, acoustic bass: Kobie Watkins, drums, Ruben Alvarez, shekere: Jean-Christophe Leroy, Congas.
Ryan Cohan wears the tri-cornered hat of composer/arranger/pianist well, and shows it off on his latest release, One Sky. This is a CD of mostly originals, the one cover being a stunning solo piano arrangement of Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life.” Cohan gives the tunes new life, full of chords, runs, and arpeggios worthy of Gershwin. Not many of the 88 keys go untouched during this performance, combining jazz and classical piano technique.
The centerpiece of the album is the five-part suite “One Sky: Tome Poems for Humanity”. Inspired by the writings of Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel. Cohan was guided “to examine humanity from a musical point of view,” according to the liner notes. The first movement, “Into Being,” is divided into two parts. Part One begins with the sounds of the band tuning, not unlike Toshiko Akiyoshi’s big band chart “Tuning Up”. The horn section consists of Bob Sheppard’s soprano sax, Geof Bradfield’s bass clarinet, and Tito Carillo’s trumpet, playing around each other and Cohan’s piano. Kobie Williams’ drums have a huge sound, like the percussion section of an orchestra. Throughout this CD, Cohan’s arranging makes the sextet sound like a much bigger ensemble. As this movement moves into Part Two, Cohan doubles Lorin Cohen’s bass part on piano for a nice effect.
“Wonder & Response” is the second movement, and the ballad begins with piano and bass. Sheppard plays a pretty flute and adds soprano sax. Bradfield picks up the tenor in addition to his bass clarinet and Carillo plays both trumpet and flugelhorn. Cohan’s piano solo is simple and understated, and his arrangement mixes the horns well. Particularly interesting is the combination of the flute and bass clarinet joining on the melody line. There are some film scores on Cohan’s resumes, and you can feel that sort of emotion in his writing here. The third movement “Awe” opens with a staccato riff before settling into a more traditional swing. The staccato chorus returns, Cohen using his piano as the percussion instrument that it is, then Carillo has a turn as a soloist. He has an excellent grasp of the improvisation job here, following the groove from swing to a double-time bebop before giving way to the familiar theme. The final movement is “Hope,” described in the notes as “Light out of darkness, possibility, faith, energy.” Notable is Cohen’s acoustic bass solo, a tremendous piece of improvisation backed by the rest of the rhythm section. Sheppard also has an excellent flute solo as the flavor turns slightly Latin. The suite ends with everyone holding a chord, which fades into the darkness.
The other songs on the CD should no be overlooked. James Cammack is the bassist for these four, including “Double Agent,” a showcase for Sheppard’s flute and more of Cohan’s pyrotechnic solo work. Jean-Christophe Leroy joins the fun on congas. “Easy For You to Say” kicks off with a simple-to-complex piano intro in the spirit of Bud Powell. The rest of the band comes in when the song takes on a swing groove, and Cohen and Carillo take solos. For “Six Fortunes.” Ruben Alvarez plays the shakere, an African shaker instrument, a nice compliment to the band, and Leroy’s congas, in a song with a snake-charmer sound. The rhythmically and tonally intricate “Checkmate” gives the horns a workout with some fast unison and harmony lines.
Ryan Cohan has assembles a wonderful ensemble to perform these compositions and shows his versatility and talent as a pianist, jazz soloist, writer and arranger. I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot more from and about him in the years to come.
[Back to Press List]
|
|
|
Featured Releases
 |
 | One Sky
A wonderfully inventive Chicago pianist. |  listen
 buy
|
|
 |
|
