Kris Davis Trio: Lost In Geneva
Pianist Kris Davis’s new trio has taken a sensible measure of time to find its musical feet, releasing its debut, a homage to six influential women pianists, in 2024 and then hitting the road to hone their individual and collective skills, to “feel a real clarity about who we are as a trio”. Performances, such as one at the Village Vanguard in January 2025, gained laudatory reviews and led to numerous awards, preparing the ground for this, their excellent second set.
Eight of the pieces here are by Davis with one apiece by Hurst and Blake, joined by a thrilling interpretation of Morton Feldman’s final Nature Piece, where Davis conjures up an unexpectedly abstract and angular groove. All the pieces draw inspiration from within the trio, the opening Subtext a jarring blur of piano crosstalk replicating the secret meanings hidden beneath double-talk, while Congestion Pricing is likely to be the first ode to New York City’s recent introduction of tolls on cars entering Lower Manhattan. Both are complex compositions, knotty in flow and often dramatic in delivery. More disorientation occurs in the title track, where jet lag and unfamiliar surroundings inform the travel mishaps of a band on tour, while the theme of navigating unknown terrain continues with Where Does That Tunnel Go? Robert Hurst’s The Bluesy Bird In Bob’s Backyard engages with Davis’s consistent inspiration from birdsong, giving rise to two spontaneous group improvisations, Mourning Dove and Northern Flicker.
Throughout, the trio is nothing less than vibrant and exhilarating, persistently veering away from the familiar path to explore new places to reveal themselves. What a special set!
Discography
The Subtext; Congestion Pricing; Lost In Geneva; Where Does That Tunnel Go?; The Ballerina; Mourning Dove; The Bluesy Bird in Bob’s Backyard; Nature Piece 5; Clues; The Deer Fly; Northern Flicker (54.28)
Davis (p); Robert Hurst (b); Johnathan Blake (d). Mount Vernon, NY, 15 September 2025.
4166 Records R1
John Donaldson: We Were Together, I Forget The Rest
Pianist John Donaldson’s latest album is probably his most heartfelt to date, dedicated as it is to his late wife, Agatha Coffey, who died during lockdown in 2021. Much of it is therefore thoughtful and occasionally sombre, notably on the concluding, and potentially hopeful New Dawn, and in the two-vocal intro to Prayer For Tomorrow before Donaldson’s trademark rolling surging piano – in debt as ever to his piano heroes McCoy Tyner and Bheki Meseleku – rolls into action, followed by Rob Luft’s molten guitar lines. The basic format here is a sextet with some added contributions from saxophonist Iain Ballamy and trumpeter Graeme Flowers, who punch hard on Prayer For Tomorrow and add a poignant, sinuous touch to Agatha’s Song, Flowers ending the piece on a high with trumpet flourishes. Their role is important, but guitarist Rob Luft, who plays on every track, steals the show with his fluent virtuosity.
Vocalists Norma Winstone and Rebecka Edlund sing a major role throughout, usually heard together although Edlund is solo on Chanterelle and Winstone on Into The Night. Winstone might be the older of the two, but vocally, both sound as clear and pure as each other, and complement each other perfectly. The lyrics are all by Donaldson – bar Winstone’s Into The Night – who reveals himself to be fine lyricist, notably on the sensitive Chanterelle.
It is hard to review a tribute like this, for the music is personal and our involvement as listeners necessarily circumspect. But this is a much-recommended set that demands our attention.
Discography
Prayer For Tomorrow; Agatha’s Song; Chanterelle; They Danced; Evening Song; Into The Night; New Dawn (43.14)
Donaldson (p); Norma Winstone, Rebecka Edlund (v); Iain Ballamy (s); Graeme Flowers (t); Rob Luft (elg); Tom Mason (b); Jeff Ballard (d). Box, Wiltshire, 3–4 September 2025.
Hexagonal Records HRCD 102
Billy Mohler: Covell
Since graduating from Berklee College of Music and releasing his jazz debut in 2019, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Billy Mohler has performed and recorded with many important and interesting musicians – from Herbie Hancock to Nile Rodgers, Mavis Staples to the Smashing Pumpkins and even Dolly Parton. His latest outing is, for him, a quite restrained, unadorned trio set with an in-form saxophonist in Mark Turner and the ever-effective drummer Joe LaBarbera.
All the songs, bar a one-take of Ornette Coleman’s ebullient Round Trip, are by Mohler, many of them personal in content. The opening The Reckoning concerns the moment Mohler faced the death of his father, of which he said “Everything I thought I understood shifted beneath me,” while the gentle Pertuda is about an imaginary relationship. On first hearing it appears effortless but beneath the surface it is fragile and gently slipping away into the distance. Likewise, Consolation – a defining solo statement by Mohler – which grew out of a feeling of walking a long road shaped by deception, where the truth stays buried. Both Ceremony and Slowdive are about Mohler’s native American background and his ancestors, the first a showpiece for LaBarbera, the second a slow burner defined by the leader’s strong introductory solo and Turner’s eloquent saxophone. A driving Rituals and its second take end proceedings in strong fashion.
Some albums make an immediate impression while others take time to assimilate. Take your time listening to this quietly impressive set, for it is worth every minute.
Discography
The Reckoning; Round Trip; Pertuda; Ceremony; Consolation; Rituals; Slowdive; Rituals tk 2 (39.51)
Mohler (b); Mark Turner (ts); Joe LaBarbera (d). Hotel Covell, Los Angeles, probably 2025.
Contagious Music CGM017