Motema

2009-08-01
Jazziz by Michael Roberts
direct and thoughtful communication

Lynne Arriale
Nuance: The Bennett Studio Sessions (Motema)

   In Conversation, pianist Lynne Arriale speaks with a quiet intelligence that’s almost entirely free of pauses or stumbles. Her thoughts are highly organized, with one subject leading logically to the next. Her arrangements and solos are like that, too. She may not know precisely where a song is going at any given moment, but she certainly gives the impression that she does.
      Such direct and thoughtful communication is very much in evidence on Arriale’s Nuance CD/DVD package, the latter of which features interviews and a performance by the pianist and her newly constructed quartet with trumpeter and flugelhornist Randy Brecker. Both CD and DVD open with a version of Sting’s “Wrapped Around Your Finger”- the sort of pop cover that’s become practically de rigueur on jazz albums in recent years. But the results are hardly formulaic. The tune opens subtly, with bassist George Mraz and drummer Anthony Pinciotti creating a pulse beneath Brecker’s thematic statement, while Arriale’s notes circle and probe the melody. The track steadily builds in complexity, drama and energy prior to an extended denouement that recedes like a slowly dying storm.
   Elsewhere, Arriale and company measure themselves against Thelonious Monk’s “I Mean You,” rendered in a distinctive manner that’s still thoroughly Monk-like, and Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia,” a showcase for Brecker’s vivacious lines. Arriale’s originals are equally satisfying- particularly “Yada Yada Yada,” a collection of off-kilter rhythms that coalesce with unexpected fluidity.
   Each song on the CD is also available in a video version featuring 5.1 surround sound, with the players performing in front of a small, appreciative audience. The symmetry of this approach further enhances Nuance, which echoes the artistic attributes of its precise yet impassioned creator.

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