We all have it: that nagging list of things we’ve been
meaning to get to, projects we’ve been thinking about for years, goals that we
just keep putting off for another day. With The Time Is Now, pianist/composer
David Hazeltine decides to finally seize the moment and bring one of his
long-delayed dream projects to fruition. The new album, due out October 26 via
Smoke Sessions Records, finds one of the top pianists of his generation forging
an impeccably swinging partnership with two other masters: bassist Ron Carter
and drummer Al Foster.
As usual, it took a heady dose of reality to inspire
Hazeltine to take this trio outing off of the back burner and bring it to life.
Nearing his 60th birthday (which will coincide with the release of the new
record), Hazeltine faced a health scare that forced a change in perspective.
Realizing that there’s no time like the present, he insisted on finding a time
in three very busy schedules when these great artists could share some time in
the studio.
These men all come directly from the straight-ahead jazz
tradition; though Hazeltine is a generation younger than his two bandmates, he
spent many years working with such giants of the music as Sonny Stitt, Chet
Baker, Eddie Harris, and Buddy Montgomery. He’s since become one of the leading
torchbearers for that estimable standard, both on his own and through his work
with the swinging super-group One For All. His efforts have made him one of the
most-streamed straight-ahead jazz artists alive today, and he’s passing his
knowledge onto new generations through his teaching, clinics and online
workshops.
On this occasion, Hazeltine had no interest in reinventing
the wheel, but set out to create amazing music from familiar ingredients – just
as Carter and Foster have done throughout their remarkable careers. “I’ve
always thought of creating music – and perhaps all art – as a way to impose
order on a chaotic world,” he says. “It’s an opportunity to make beautiful the
not always beautiful human condition, and I was so happy to finally have Ron
and Al to do it with me!”
Those qualities are on full display throughout The Time Is
Now, from the tasteful elegance of Hazeltine’s title track through the
blistering closer “Signals,” a showcase for Foster’s crisp attack and mighty
sound. While he had spent countless hours listening to both men’s work, and had
a good deal of experience playing with Foster, Hazeltine faced a daunting task
in writing for the trio – the three had, after all, never worked together as a
band, and he’d only shared the studio with Carter on one other occasion.
“I wanted to do something new and push myself out of my
comfort zone when composing and arranging for this recording,” he says. “I’d
never recorded trio with Ron and Al and I knew that I wanted the music to be
above all beautiful, swinging, and harmonically interesting, yet not overly
arranged. That would allow the three of us to do what we do best: creating and
improvising on a framework.”
After the opening track allows all three men to display their
nimble agility, a joyful surprise comes in the form of the theme from “The Odd
Couple,” reimagined as a wistful waltz. Hard to believe that the theme song
from a 40-year-old sitcom could dance with such weightless grace, but that’s
the magic of this gifted trio. Hazeltine then switches gears again, with a
Latin-flavored twist on “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” that suggests the haze of a
sweltering nightclub rather than the usual fog of remorse.
Foster’s lithe brushwork provides the shuffling foundation
for a breezy take on “Cabin in the Sky,” while Carter’s robust walking is the
strong but pliable spine of “Blues for Eddie,” Hazeltine’s tribute to one of
his mentors, saxophonist Eddie Harris. “We all know that Eddie was one of the
most innovative guys to ever play the saxophone,” the pianist says, “but he’s
also one of the most under-appreciated. Most people knew him for his pop or
funk tunes, like ‘Compared to What’ and ‘Listen Here.’ But live, he would play
a lot of swinging jazz and people would leave scratching their heads. He was a
different kind of performer than his reputation suggested.”
Hazeltine takes a solo turn at the piano for a sunset-shaded
rumination on James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight,” eloquently
capturing the original’s desperate plea for companionship without a word
needing to be sung. His triomates offer a comforting response with Hazeltine’s
tender “When I’m Here With You.”
When discussing difficult situations or misfortune with his
wife, Hazeltine is given to suggesting that they “parlay” their bad luck into
something better. That verbal habit provided the tongue-in-cheek title for “The
Parlayer,” perfectly matching its sly, sharp-witted humor. Rarely since the days
of its composer has Duke Ellington’s immortal “In a Sentimental Mood” been
embodied so well as when these three masters imbue it with such aching,
heartfelt sentiment.
Leading up to the brisk barrage of the aforementioned
“Signals,” Hazeltine’s “Muse of Montgomery” pays homage to another important
mentor from the pianist’s formative years, pianist Buddy Montgomery. The
youngest of the famed Montgomery brothers (following Wes and Monk), Buddy spent
more than a decade living in Hazeltine’s native Milwaukee. “When I was growing
up, Buddy played six nights a week for years in a hotel lounge called the
Bombay Bicycle Club. A bunch of us would go down there on almost a nightly
basis and I got to know Buddy pretty well, and became a major influence on me.
That tune is my representation of the way that Buddy would approach a tune.”
Finally having the chance to hear these three masterful
musicians conversing together, one may regret that it hasn’t happened sooner,
or more often. But in the hands of such visionary and skilled artists, The Time
Is Now is a notion that’s always true – no matter the time.
"The Time Is Now" was produced by Paul Stache and
Damon Smith and
recorded live in New York at Sear Sound's Studio C on a
Sear-Avalon custom console
at 96KHz/24bit and mixed to ½" analog tape using a
Studer mastering deck.
Available in audiophile HD format.
David Hazeltine · The Time Is Now
Smoke Sessions Records · Release Date: October 26, 2018
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