Search - Dave Catney :: Jade Visions

Dave Catney: Jazz Genius

Jazz Pianist | Milwaukee, WI USA | 09/08/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Though perhaps little known, this CD is one of the greatest jazz piano trio recordings of the last 15 years. The late Dave Catney is on a plane here with the great Bill Evans in terms of depth and sensitivity and emotional penetration with the quiet, wistful precision of his playing, and is perfectly backed here by two other giants,
Peter Erskine on drums and Marc Johnson on bass. A better version of the Scott LeFaro tune Jade Visions has never been recorded. This astonishingly beautifully recorded session has a real tone to it, of mystery, of spirituality, a freshness, a sparkle. I never tire of hearing it. Treat yourself. It's a treasure that deserves a far wider audience than it has yet recieved."

Savor the moment

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 08/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I confess I've thought more than once about the ambivalence that must have come over Marc Johnson, the brilliant young bassist privileged to be with Bill Evans during those final two glorious years, before being cast aside as an anchor without a ship. How appropriate that Johnson would be the undercurrent for a pianist such as Catney, and how cruel that once again he would witness the shining vessel sail away without him.



Catney's talent is more rooted in the genius of Evans' piano playing than numerous other pianists whose names are evoked with the predecessor's. He doesn't dig as deep into the keys as Bill, trace a melodic line quite as far in its narrative course, or provide quite the same richness of texture and harmonic complexity. But his improvisations are enchanting structures of gossamer, devoid of both the neo-classic, portentous experimentation of a Mehldau and the folksy, exhibitionistic romanticism of a Jarrett. If he died too young to have incorporated some of the darker gnomes that inhabited Evans' music, he nonetheless reflects more of the shimmering ethereal spirits of that music than any other pianist who comes to mind. And on the thrilling title track, his reverential minimalist approach resurrects living memories not just of Scottie at the Vanguard but of Bill's "Peace Piece."



Grab this one before it gets away."