Patrick Zimmerli TRIO

SONGS OF INNOCENCE

Emergence Music Productions

Patrick Zimmerli, soprano saxophone/composer; Kevin Hays, piano; Satoshi Takeishi, percussion.

This trio album opens with an original song by Patrick Zimmerli titled, “60 Morningside.”

“At odd, unexpected moments, … ideas for songs often occur to me.  These melodies can be simple and sometimes even childlike in their innocence. I always jot these ideas down and later develop them,” Zimmerli writes in his liner notes.

On this first track, he recalls waking up very early, every day, to write music. Sometimes he was enticed to run over to Morningside Park in Manhattan to take in the sunrise. From a familiar perch, he could see a red brick building that looked gorgeous in the rising sun.  He would later discover this was the home of the Columbia University President. Consequently, he wrote this composition to celebrate that house, its specific address, and that sunrise moment.

The “Wedding Song” begins with handclaps, meant to express the ebullient enthusiasm that often accompanies marriage.   His soprano saxophone celebrates the marriage, playing like a pied piper who leads the moment with his horn exclamation.

There is a totally different vibe to “Dreamscape,” a tune that begins with dark, ominous piano chords in the bass of the keyboard and one repetitive single note played with the right hand. Then enters a four-and-five-note chord played arpeggio. When Zimmerli performs on his soprano sax, he is endeavoring to make us feel that sometimes disorienting state of dreams. His music is meant to memorialize what can happen to us during these subconscious trips in the dream-state.

The final tune is called “Torsion.” It musically describes a type of twisting deformation of an object. I find these last three songs to be so energetic and melody-frantic that at times, especially on this song, I just wish Zimmerli had let the tune breathe. Sometimes the piano and the horn seem to be fighting with each other for space.

When the pianist finally soloed, the production allowed the solo to soar, prodded ahead by Satoshi Takeishi’s drums. Takeishi also takes a percussive solo that builds the music in exciting ways.  When Zimmerli enters again on his saxophone, they are all, once again, playing at the top of their energy chart.  They end it abruptly, like the slap of a rolled newspaper stops the busy, buzzing fly. The quiet afterwards served as a relief.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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