Pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader
Arturo O'Farrill hasn't cut a piano trio album since 2005's
Live in Brooklyn. All told, he's released only two and the solo piano album
The Noguchi Sessions in 2012. Writing, leading, and arranging for two big bands is not only time consuming, but for most, a musical mindset removed from the piano trio.
O'Farrill will tell you he is a jazz pianist first, and everything else emerges from that.
Legacies for
Blue Note showcases his playing and interpretive skills in alternating solo and trio configurations, performing both historic jazz tunes and originals. On the trio selections, he is accompanied by his son, drummer
Zack O'Farrill, and upright bassist
Liany Matero.
The set opens with what may be the knottiest, most abstract version of
Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance." It sounds like musical cubism. The infectious melody is never fully articulated, and after quoting it in the opening,
O'Farrill deconstructs the harmony, stretches the rhythm, and turns a breezy midtempo groover into a knotty improvisation. The intro to
Thelonious Monk's "Well, You Needn't" would likely make its composer smile. Performing solo,
O'Farrill employs a classically flavored opening that offers counterpoint and bluesy bop lyricism before introducing the earworm melody. His arpeggios run in octaves across the changes, altering the rhythm. This track, its own musical puzzle piece, is worth the purchase price on its own. Interestingly, the trio version of "Blue State Blues," an original that initially appeared on 2009's
Risa Negra, isn't that different from its predecessor, but it's a tad more dramatic, if that's possible. The pianist sets a faster tempo, then explores its harmony percussively as if he were playing a bop descarga.
Zack double-times his father on hi-hat, snare, and kick drum, and
Matero bridges their communication with his fluid phrasing and massive tone. The standard "Darn That Dream" sounds like it was arranged by
Art Tatum, as
O'Farrill playing solo careens across swing, bop, classical, and post-bop with dazzling dexterity and indefatigable imagination without sacrificing the requisite elegance in the tune's DNA. He follows with a trio read of former boss
Carla Bley's glorious "Utviklingssang." The original is a slow, bluesy dirge; this trio version sees the pianist assert the melody at twice the tempo, then shift the blues roots toward gospel and soul, all while extrapolating its layered harmony with real drama. Played solo,
Sonny Rollins' "Doxy" is rendered with the same mischievous approach to blues.
O'Farrill stacks notes and chords, making his tempos stretch like rubber bands, while his phrasing highlights the tune's harmonic subtleties and swings like mad. The set closes with a burning trio version of
Bud Powell's "Un Poco Loco."
O'Farrill's right hand is wildly dexterous, laying down dazzling arpeggios even as his left hand engages the bassist and drummer in rhythmic counterpoint.
Legacies is a weighty, provocative album that offers fans a deep, intimate portrait of a truly exceptional piano technician, improviser, and interpreter. ~ Thom Jurek
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