Search - Scott Routenberg Trio :: Every End Is A Beginning

Routenberg's tender manner and touch. Notice, too, that all of his piano tones seem to bear a crystalline quality. We are additionally blessed because the pacing of melodic and rhythmic motives within all his solos is well measured and flowing. His improvisations are uniformly logical and coherent. Another asset in our listening experience is that the pianist floats atop highly energetic and endlessly creative drumming. That underpinning vies for our attention with the piano part in the music's foreground. Scott Routenberg is an award-winning composer and a jazz pianist whose exquisite touch and marvelous taste bring us the delightful music on this, his fourth album. Having written much of his most acclaimed music for large ensembles, Scott felt it was time to condense some of his ideas and convey them through the instrumentation of a jazz trio. Joining him are colleagues with whom he had worked for about a year's worth of gigs. Bassist Nick Tucker acquits himself admirable in executing his written parts and anchoring the group's rhythmic foundation when the drumming around him is extremely active. He also solos melodically with a glowing tone. Drummer Cassius Goens plays adventurously and often contributes continuously rolling figures that sputter and pop as a boiling cauldron of rhythms. All but one selection on this album are originals penned by Scott. His compositions are so spirited and his improvisations so compositional and flowing that sometimes we cannot be certain whether we are hearing spontaneous music or sounds that have been worked out in advance. What a pleasure! The entire album was recorded on a concert stage without studio isolation booths. This situation took advantage of the natural reverberation of the concert hall and an excellent Steinway Hamburg D grand piano. Every piece was recorded in one take to convey the excitement of a live performance.