Reviews
Best of 2008: New Releases |
— Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com |
Top 10 of 2008 |
— Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper |
Jazz Album of the Year list (#24) |
— 2008 Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll |
Top 10 CD Picks of 2008 |
— Steve Greenlee, Boston Globe |
Best New Releases of 2008 |
— Andrey Henkin, AllAboutJazz-New York |
Best New Releases of 2008 |
— Laurence Donohue-Greene, AllAboutJazz-New York |
Top 10 of 2008 list |
— David R. Adler, Jazzhouse.org |
**** 1/2...There's a sense that the tracks on Trio Arc are not so much seven discrete recordings but part of a continuum that is tuned into from time to time, snapshots representing facets of a greater whole...unlike many free-form dates, there's no time wasted on searching for common ground or playing tug-of-war between divergent visions. Each of the six trio pieces (the disc ends with a brief solo performance by Bley) is concise and focused. |
— Shaun Brady, DownBeat |
The six spontaneous group inventions provide evidence of the trio's synergy, which produces music full of free-spiritedness and open thinking. Bley is the chief catalyst, luminously restless, tossing forth glistening melodies and elliptical motifs with an eye for momentum. Bley's partners are right at his back, with Pavone's electrifying pizzicato work stoking excursions like the bouyant "Slant." Wilson's joyously propulsive drums enliven each cut... |
— Jay Collins, Signal to Noise |
Bley never gives a bad performance and here he's on top of his form...what's truly special about this session is that Pavone and Wilson clearly just did their own thing, while Bley found a way to fit in and fill the spaces. Listen to the excellent "Lazzi" and the lovely shape-shifting "Sweet." They seem to define everything that's so good about this album. |
— Duncan Heining, Jazzwise |
Ce qui compte ici, au fond, c'est la position d'énonciation qui est celle de Bley et de Pavone, laquelle, définie au moment même de l'invention de cette musique, en garantit la vérité, et, partant, les fulgurantes beautés, qui culminent peut-être vers la fin de Lazzi, où Matt Wilson apporte une touche insistante. |
— Philippe Méziat, Jazz Magazine |
The resulting trio creates vibrant, interactive improvisations that can stand comparison with that great late-'60s Bley group. The conversational give-and-take between the three players is fresh and exciting. This is "free" jazz in the best sense of the word, free of agenda or ideology, and totally committed to collective creativity without preconceptions or limits. |
— Ted Gioia, Jazz.com (Song of the Day 6/25/08) |
What a reunion, and Wilson fits right in. The symbiosis of Pavone and Wilson is remarkable. It is a beautiful amalgam of sounds, and it leaves the listener wanting more. |
— Steve Greenlee, JazzTimes |
The energy of this record is restless; the music searches, explores and stretches. It is the sound of three minds listening to each other's ideas with such intensity as to make the ensemble sound irresistibly tense and compelling – an aural cliffhanger. |
— Craig Schum, Beyond Race |
Recommended New Release (July 2008) |
— David Adler, AllAboutJazz-New York |
Recommended New Release (June 2008) |
— Laurence Donohue-Greene, AllAboutJazz-New York |
The teamwork between the three is nothing short of breathtaking, the empathy enormous, and the music itself at a very high level. A must have for lovers of this kind of spontaneous composition; this is not so much a throwback to the '60s as a modern update, and a welcome one indeed. |
— Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide |
There are many moments to savor...Trio Arc is a disc of music as timeless and innovative as only a piano trio can be. |
— Robert Iannapollo, AllAboutJazz-New York |
Sensitive and probing, Pavone's bass playing is graced with collective empathy and individual melodic inventions that create arias amid even the most airborne flights...Bley explores resonant new corners with varied tonal colors, wry dissonance, surprising intervals, muted timbres in the bass and even, briefly, by plucking the piano's inside strings. Brilliant throughout, Wilson works with a rich palette of colors, always a painter, never a pounder. |
— Owen McNally, Hartford Courant |
This is my favorite piano trio disc of 2008, without any doubt. |
— Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery |
Recorded with no rehearsal or discussion about the possible outcome, these seven tunes demonstrate the trio's intuitive abilities as they modulate between fervid expressionism and restrained finesse; their excursions offer a concise balance of instrumental sonorities, sensitive interplay and dynamic range. A modern classic, Trio Arc is a superlative and timeless example of free improvisation. |
— Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com |
The surprise here is that Trio Arc is a freely improvised session. Once or twice, I detected echoes of Pavone's early "Bass Ballad" and even a snatch in the bass of Tom Chapin's "Aeolus", but for the most part, these are flowing, organic ideas that make Keith Jarrett's experiments in the same area sound almost deliberate. That's not an entirely casual byblow, because the only contemporary figure really comparable to Pavone is Gary Peacock. |
— Brian Morton, Jazz Review |
Minds rarely meet as closely as they do here, and the results are profoundly singular, indicative that even a formula as staid as the piano trio can be compelling in the right hands. |
— Nic Jones, AllAboutJazz.com |
El resultado es un encuentro musical más que satisfactorio, sumamente melódico y en el que prevalece la sensación de gran complicidad entre los tres músicos. "Trio Arc" es, en suma, un magnífico ejemplo de las posibilidades expresivas que las composiciones instantáneas pueden originar en las manos adecuadas. |
— José Francisco "Pachi" Tapiz, Tomajazz.com |
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