Lynne Arriale Live CD

Like 2000s Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Lynne Arriale's first live album, her second, Live, brings out the best tendencies in her trio's playing. Arriale has long been established as one of the most creative and thoughtful pianists in jazz, and after ten years together she and her band -- bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Steve Davis -- know where one another is heading long before they get there, making for playfully intuitive and often unexpected interactions. Arriale's nimble-fingered, graceful excursions display both technique and heart, and though she rarely veers too far from the melody at a song's core, she's not finished with a piece until she's explored all of its possibilities. Much of the material performed here at the 2005 Burghausen Jazz Week in Germany appeared first on Arriale's studio recordings, including two very hip covers, the Beatles' "Come Together," which Arriale deconstructs and reconstructs in a most inventive manner, and the New Orleans standard "Iko Iko," which opens the recording. Arriale also enjoys tripping to the tropics, and both "Braziliana" and "Flamenco" (which, like the two aforementioned covers, appear on her 2004 Come Together album) are bold statements, the former a rhythmic tour de force and the latter a stunning example of Arriale's seamless fusing of classical and jazz elements. The trio's take on Abdullah Ibrahim's "Mountain of the Night" manages to remain absorbing even after 11-plus minutes without so much as a tempo change, and the set-closing take on Thelonious Monk's "Bemsha Swing" leaves little doubt that these musicians are more than willing to venture into deep and difficult waters. A DVD of the performance in 5.1 surround sound is also included in the package, adding a version of the standard "Alone Together" to the program. ~ Jeff Tamarkin