SHORT STORIES, a new recording by pianist-composer DAVID LOPATO & GLOBAL COOLANT

Short Stories, the new recording by award-winning NY-based composer-pianist David Lopato is an eclectic assemblage of eight original compositions and one cover (Prince of Darkness by Wayne Shorter). The music spans 4 decades of writing and, like all of Lopato’s previous recordings, a wide range of musical genres and styles. It features a core quintet of incredible musicians with whom Lopato has worked for many years: Ed Neumeister on trombone, Lucas Pino on saxes and clarinets, Ratzo Harris on string bass and Michael Sarin on drum. The group is augmented by three of New York’s top percussionists: Rogerio Boccato, Keita Ogawa and Bobby Sanabria, and by newcomer Anson Jones on vocals.

The influences on Lopato’s music run far, wide and deep, from traditional jazz, blues and rock to avant-garde improvisation, and the musics of Africa, Brazil and Asia, most notably Indonesia, where Lopato lived for a year as a Fulbright scholar studying Javanese gamelan. His last recording, the South Asian-influenced Gendhing for a Spirit Rising, was cited as one of the top albums of 2017 by Downbeat Magazine, which described it as “unlike anything you are likely to hear this year (or any year). Unlike many experiments with musical fusion, Lopato’s music is the genuine article”.

While Gendhing is steeped in the musics of South Asia, the pieces in Short Stories are closer to home yet no less adventurous. Prince of Darkness, one of only two compositions in Lopato’s entire recorded output not written by him, is a nod to the late, great Wayne Shorter, revered by so many jazz composers. Another homage to a late, great musician is the pensive ballad For Chick, written in memory of Chick Corea. Stuttersteppin’ is a gnarly piece in swing time with open improvisation that is influenced by classical Indian raga and Through the Veil takes yet an entirely different turn. Inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist concept of the Bardo and the notion of the soul choosing its moment of birth, it is a long-form composition which intermingles modern jazz with avant-garde improvisation and includes a startling sprechstimme-like solo by Ed Neumeister. Nelson is another homage, an upbeat celebration written upon Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990. Clarity is an atmospheric, straight-8 ballad and Papagayo a rollicking samba infused with a salsa-like solo section by the great Bobby Sanabria. New Orleans is present in Looking for Mr. Babar, with equal nods to dixieland and Randy Newman, one of Lopato’s favorite pop musicians. The Glass Ceiling is a largely notated lament written in the wee hours of Nov. 8, 2016, a profoundly somber moment for millions of Americans. Despite this wide diversity of styles, the album flows seamlessly from start to finish. The writing and playing are both filled with warmth, swing and intensity.