DAVE BASS TRIO

NUEVO-Vol. 2

Independent Label

Dave Bass, piano/composer; Tyler Miles, Double Bass; Steve Helfand, drums.

This trio opens with a tune titled “LeGrand/Lester Left Town” that is a medley mix of a Wayne Shorter composition and a Dave Bass original.

“Wayne Shorter’s homage to Lester Young is a tune I’ve always loved since its debut on Art Blakey’s “The Big Beat.”  The descending chromatic line that begins Wayne’s tune leans into Lester himself.  A section of my own tune ‘LeGrand,’ makes a nice intro and outro that feature Steve Helfand’s exciting drumming,” Bass writes in his liner notes.

Pianist Dave Bass has composed some beautiful music for this project.  His tune “Heart Above My Head” is a lovely ballad that features an impressive double bass solo by Tyler Miles.

Bass has a beautiful touch on the piano.  His style is definitive, with his reference to the treble clef often makes the notes tinkle like wind chimes. One of his major influences was Bud Powell.  He has recorded several of Powell’s compositions over the years, including “Dance of the infidels” on this album. Bass plays with time, creating an arrangement where he moves from 6/4, to throwing in an unexpected measure of 7/8.

Another pianist and composer who Dave Bass greatly admires is Johann Sabastian Bach.  He tributes the great classical composer with a tune he calls “Journey with Bach” incorporating excerpts of Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” and “Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue.”

You will also hear many tunes arranged in a very Latin way.  Bass has said that Latin music is in his DNA.  In fact, he constructed “Latin Journey” (another Dave Bass original composition) based on excerpts from Isaac Albeniz’s “Asturias” tune, while incorporating parts of Ernesto Lecuona’s “La Comparsa” composition, then adding in his own input from a song called, “Mi Montuno.” Bass features his talented drummer, Steve Helfand, during this arrangement and Helfand sparkles with percussive talent. Throughout, Dave Bass’s hands move like a machine.  You would not realize that for years, because of a terrible injury, he could not play piano at all.  Clearly Dave Bass is back, stronger than ever.

This is an awesome trio album that celebrates three gifted musicians.  Every tune is superbly played, melding bebop, classical and Latin music together like a string of expensive pearls.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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