Grand Pianists, Whatever Their Ages

Age obviously doesn’t matter when it comes to jazz piano. Consider a few of this month’s releases, spotlighting pianists ranging in age from 25 (Jason Moran) to 71 (Andre Previn), with numerous stops in between. Each has something to say, a style in which to express it and the technical wherewithal to make it all happen.

Here they are, more or less grouped according to age, in ascending chronological order:

Jason Moran, “Facing Left” (*** 1/2, Blue Note). At 25, Moran already has developed an impressive individual style. Although he has the facility to play with breathtaking fleetness (check out his chorus on “Another One”), his uniqueness traces to his refusal to be locked into predictable, bebop-based patterns. Equally important, he reveals growing composition skills, writing music that is as fascinating for its intellectual foundation as it is for its sheer musical appeal. Some of the pieces here are as brief as two minutes and 42 seconds--startlingly concise in an era of profligate soloing. And it is to Moran’s credit as a compelling talent that he has the confidence in his art to know when to sketch and when to expand into every detail.

Rachel Z, “On the Milky Way Express” (***, Tone Center). Like Moran, Rachel Z (her birth name is Nicolazzo, and although her age is unspecified, she is presumably in her mid-30s) is a consistently adventurous player. In this collection, which explores the music of Wayne Shorter--with whom she worked and collaborated in the mid-’90s--she emerges with a more personal voice than generally has been present in earlier albums. Working with bassist Miriam Sullivan and drummer Allison Miller, she occasionally reveals traces of influence from McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock, but more often she is her own player, voicing her harmonies with a dark, intimate quality. On the rare occasion in which she elects to stretch and display her virtuosity--her right-hand-only solo on “Delores” is a good example--she swings with impressive power and drive. The Rachel Z trio is scheduled to make a Los Angeles appearance--at a yet to be announced venue--in September.

Benny Green, “Naturally” (***, Telarc Jazz). There’s never much doubt about what to expect from Green. At 37, he remains very much within the orbit of hard-swinging piano jazz that rotates around the playing of Oscar Peterson. To his credit, Green has worked hard to invest the style with his own personal aura, succeeding especially well in this outing. His own hard-swinging playing has a lot to do with the upbeat, spirited quality of the music, but he also benefits enormously from the superb support of guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Christian McBride (talk about an all-star trio). The nine-tune program includes five Green originals and a pair of solo renderings of Duke Ellington’s “Love You Madly” and Wayne Shorter’s touching tribute to Lester Young, “Lester Left Town.” Good stuff most of it. In Green’s hands, the mainstream beat goes on in fine, appealing fashion.

Jean-Michel Pilc, “Together: Live at Sweet Basil, Vol. 1” (***, A Records). The French-born Pilc, 40, makes regular appearances at the Greenwich Village jazz club, and he and his trio clearly feel comfortable there. Although his program is filled with familiar items--”Softly as in a Morning Sunrise,” “Tea for Two,” “My One and Only Love”--it often takes a while before familiar themes begin to emerge. On several tracks, Pilc’s aggressively pianistic approach takes a piece apart from the very beginning, gradually reassembling its parts into its familiar manifestation. Along the way, a great deal of spontaneous, high-energy improvising takes place, driven by the empathetic accompaniment of bassist Francois Moutin and the sometimes frantic but always dynamic drumming of Ari Hoenig. This is not music to relax by, but it is a fascinating sampling of one of the more intriguing of the many streams of piano jazz pouring into the 21st century. (If the album isn’t available in your local record store, check the company’s web site: https://www.challenge.nl).

Andre Previn, “We Got It Good and That Ain’t Bad: An Ellington Songbook” (***, Deutsche Grammophon). Previn has been a surprisingly adroit jazz pianist since the mid-’50s, when--as a young film composer--he startled the jazz world with his briskly swinging renderings (with the accompaniment of Shelly Manne and Leroy Vinnegar) of songs from the musical “West Side Story.” The music of Duke Ellington (and Billy Strayhorn, Mercer Ellington and Johnny Hodges) is a good fit for Previn, especially harmonically and melodically. And he doesn’t hesitate to try a few transformations, performing parts of “Take the ‘A’ Train” in 3/4, and adding a few dissonances to the blues harmonies of “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be.” Occasional passages sometimes drift into the realm of pleasant background jazz, but for the most part Previn (accompanied only by bassist David Finck) offers a set of imaginative takes on some extremely familiar music.