ALBUM REVIEWS : Marrakech Improvisations From Randy Weston

RANDY WESTON

“Marrakech in the Cool of the Evening”

Verve

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Weston’s solo piano concerts earlier this year at the Jazz Bakery were amazingly rich affairs, with theme-and-variation exercises rising out of robust percussive riffs. This date, recorded live in 1992 at the La Mamounia hotel ballroom in Marrakech, Morocco, represents only a step in that direction, as Weston plays with less density, fewer rhythmic hooks and surprisingly little of the ethnic feel that usually graces his play.

Instead, the pianist, who lived for many years in Morocco, improvises with Bartok-like sensibilities, moving from moments of graceful beauty to confusion and anxiety, without losing a sense of direction. Rhythms pause and accelerate as themes transform into larger statements. The overall mood is sultry and sensual, much as one imagines the climate would be in Marrakech at sunset.

The material--a healthy selection of Weston’s own pieces with a sprinkling of tunes from Dizzy Gillespie (a medley that touches on “A Night in Tunisia,” “Con Alma” and others), Nat Cole, Fats Waller and Billy Strayhorn--provides the kind of rhythmic and melodic variety that leads to a diversity of moods. But these themes provide only the barest framework, as Weston moves off in his own direction as he improvises.

Although Weston has extended his style since this recording was made, “Marrakech” provides a revealing look at an established artist as his craft continues to evolve.

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