Continuing from where the fine 1992 recording You Never Know (ECM 1497) left off, Time Being features a range of intelligently turned, emotionally compelling compositions by Erskine and Taylor. Kenny Wheeler, Staffan Linton and Palle Danielsson also contribute memorable themes, together with the English composer Peter Warlock (1894-1930), a great admirer of the chromaticism of Delius. Unusual as the choice of Warlock may seem, the trio’s arrangement of his Pieds makes a fitting coda to a robustly swinging session which is as harmonically adventurous as it is sensitive to space.
The power-in-reserve, medium groove of Terraces reveals the sort of individual independence, yet overall integration of lines which distinguishes such post-Evans piano trio jazz at its best: Danielsson’s ideas are especially impressive, lending the requisite edge to the piece’s development.
The melodic appeal and ostinato rhythms of (respectively) Visa and Bulgaria conjure memories of the bassist’s folk-flavoured work with the Swedish group Rena Rama in the seventies, while Evansong and Ambleside, two particularly striking, shape-shifting Taylor compositions, epitomise the overall richness of resource – harmonic as much as melodic, (strongly) rhythmic as much as textural – on tap throughout this beautifully recorded album. Highly recommended.
Discography
Terraces; For The Time Being; If Only I Had Known; Evansong; Page 172; Liten Visa Til Karin; Bulgaria; Ambleside; Phrase One; Palle’s Headache; Pieds-en-Tair (64.27)
John Taylor (p); Palle Danielsson (b); Peter Erskine (d). Oslo, November 1993.
(ECM 1532)
