Year: 2004
Record Label: Tone Center
Style: Contemporary Jazz
Musicians: Rachel Z, piano; Bobbie Rae, drums; Tony Levin, bass
Review: Gifted pianist/composer/arranger Rachel Z has come up with a creative solution to the dilemma facing jazz musicians these days – the constant challenge of mastering one’s instrument and learning to play through changes with the added problem of a shrinking market.
To connect with new listeners without selling out or dumbing down, Rachel has found a way to make the age-old piano trio relevant and fresh to younger ears. And she’s done so without sacrificing artistry or forsaking her own connection to the jazz piano legacy of Bud Powell, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, among many others.
Born and raised in Manhattan in an artistic household, her mother was an opera singer; her father was a visual artist), Rachel Nicolazzo started singing lessons at the age of two and began studying piano at seven. She attended the New England Conservatory of Music from 1980 to 1984 and studied privately with such renowned jazz pianists as Joanne Brackeen, John Hicks and Richie Beirach.
Her professional career has put Rachel on stage or in studio with some of contemporary jazz’s top names, such as Steps Ahead, Al Di Meola, Larry Coryell, Special EFX and Angela Bofill.
On Everlasting, Rachel wraps her penchant for sophisticated reharmonization and her ability to communicate familiar fare. Putting one’s own personal imprint on a familiar tune or hit song is a tried and true formula in jazz. But rather than draw from Tin Pan Alley or Broadway show tunes, as many jazz musicians have done, Rachel Z turns to more recent pop and R&B singers like Seal and Sade, or alternative rockers Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins for her source material.
“If you keep playing Stella by Starlight to 15-year-olds, they’re just never gonna really get it because it’s not part of their history,” she says in a press release. “But if you play something that they are intimately familiar with, something that is a part of their own history, then you can really connect with them.”
Everlasting opens with a McCoy Tynerish take on The Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun, followed by a unique perspective on Seal’s Kiss From a Rose. While that’s beautifully done, Rachel and her accompanists really take off on drummer Bobbie Rae’s Mortal, which taps into that strain of translucent Keith Jarrett-Chick Corea-Herbie Hancock pianism that was vital for a generation of players coming of age in the 1970s and ’80s.
What follows is a swinging rendition of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire – a radical recast from the original. In fact, one might be hard pressed to identify the familiar chorus as Rachel’s keys do the singing for Cash’s “I fell into a burnin’ ring of fire.” This particular interpretation epitomizes the idea of taking someone else’s hit and making it your own.
Rachel doesn’t merely cover any of these songs. All are fresh, creative interpretations. However, what she does with Ring of Fire is mind-blowing genius.
The trio gives a charming treatment to the Rolling Stones’ melancholy ballad Wild Horses, while transforming Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun into an uptempto, swinging romp. Tony Levin’s walking bass line and Rae’s hip, interactive pulse underscore the straightforward treatment of Sting’s Fields of Gold. Levin works with Rachel in Peter Gabriel’s band.
That serves as a setup for the rocking presentation of Steely Dan’s Kid Charlemagne – a performance worthy of Ramsey Lewis or Les McCann. After the elegant One Time, the trio offers a slick take on the Smashing Pumpkins’ Tonight Tonight, followed by a romantic serving of Sade’s Kiss of Life.
The trio closes the album with Rachel’s dramatic rendition of Red Rain by her employer, Peter Gabriel.
So for the young people out there who want to know about this music called jazz, Rachel Z’s Everlasting is the perfect vehicle for introducing them to the genre.
Tracks: Here Comes the Sun, Kiss From a Rose, Mortal, Interlude, Ring of Fire, Wild Horses, Black Hole Sun, Fields of Gold, Kid Charlemagne, One Time, Tonight Tonight, Kiss of Life, Interlude, Red Rain
Artist's Website: http://www.rachelz.com
Reviewed by:
Woodrow Wilkins Jr.
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