Year: 2005
Record Label: Wahbo Records
Style: Free Jazz / Avante Garde
Musicians: Jeff Baumeister (piano), Dan Capecchi (drums), Greg Riley (saxophone), Peter Paulsen (bass)
Review:
The Philly native, Jeff Baumeister met the horns at a very early age only to switch to piano when he was a teenager. He obviously succeeded there while also becoming an amazing composer. Baumeister startling artistry and sensitive character awe us with his authorship on Useful Music by the variety and freshness of a melodic, classic and jazzy climate he invents at his own pace.
These qualities, colliding with his gifts, had allowed Bauminster to be awarded with the Bernard Pieffer Memorial Piano Award for Excellence, Creativity and Dedication to Jazz Piano.
Baumeister, Dan Capecchi, Greg Riley and Peter Paulsen executed every piece with boldness. The abstractly painted soundscapes are a Stenson-like blending heritage with a touch of groovy lyricism. They defy all, culminating in six masterpieces.
A breaching style and an elegant improvisational ability bedazzles Dan Capecchi’s playing . Combining precision and lace-making smoothness with his brushes and sticks, Capecchi brings about an imaginative voice. It’s like heaven to discover Peter Paulsen’s double bass and Capecchi’s cymbals and drums pas de deux.
Greg Riley’s sax sounds enrapture as he flies easily through contemporary inventions. On Useful Music Riley’s ranking offers us a superb lyricism dotted with virility.
As soon as your ears will get to this album you will be impressed by Baumeister’s craft: his delightfully composed phrases with the melody on the bottom and syncopated expressions in the acute medium with robust bragging, which can be layered with smooth harmonies. Highly recommended!
Tracks: The Realization of a Line; Quiet and Restful but Moving; Wahbo; Color and Light; Balladynia; For DB
Artist's Website: http://www.usefulmusic.net
Reviewed by:
Dr. Ana Isabel Ordonez
Click here for printer-friendly version of review.
Send this page to a friend.
JazzReview.com
