LARRY GOLDINGS, PETER BERNSTEIN, BILL STEWART

RHOMBUS

Smoke Session Records

Larry Goldings, organ/composer; Peter Bernstein, guitar/composer; Bill Stewart, drums.

This project developed in a single moment of time, but it represents years of friendship between Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart.  They are a modern jazz organ trio, three men who have been musical partners for more than thirty-five years.

They open with the Keith Jarrett composition, “Everything that Lives Laments” at a moderate tempo and with the familiarity that old friends often share. However, it’s the Randy Weston tune “Hi-Fly” that snatches my ears to attention.

“When you play with each other for over 35 years, it becomes the bar that everything else is measured against. That level of familiarity is nice in that it feels comfortable. Yet, at the same time, I have to try to reach for something different because these cats have heard all my licks …which is what improvisational music is all about,” writes Bernstein in his press package.

The title tune, “Rhombus” is composed by organist, Goldings.  Rhombus is a quadrilateral, with all four sides measuring the same length. You can think of it as a slanted square. Right out the gate, Bill Stewart sets the tone and spirit of this tune on his trap drum introduction.

The other original composition on this album is contributed by guitarist, Bernstein.  “Dissipation Blues” is a tune powerfully propelled by Bill Stewart’s drums and brightly features his ‘solo’ near the fade of the tune.

Concluding the album is a rendition of Thelonious Monk’s popular standard, “In Walked Bud.”  The trio swings from top to bottom.  On this arrangement, they display their bebop roots and further expose their improv talents.

“We’re all very eclectic in our musical tastes, and the continuing challenge is to figure out how to make these disparate compositions sound like us,” explains Goldings.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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