CD Title: Full Circle
Year: 2002
Record Label: Reservoir
Style: Straight-Ahead / Classic
Musicians: Jon Mayer (piano); Rufus Reid (bass); Victor Lewis (drums)
Review: One might wonder why Jon Mayer is recording on Reservoir’s “New York Piano Series,” Mayer having been a Southern California resident for the past 20-plus years. But the title of the CD explains all of that. With thin red circles containing the word “Circle”, the name “Jon” and then the musician himself on the front of the liner notes, it turns out that Mayer has returned to the city where he started his career in jazz. A career that was unfortunately insufficiently documented at the time, but that included recordings with John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Kenny Dorham and Chet Baker, among many others.
Well, now, Mayer is back to reclaim the recognition that eluded him. And on Full Circle, we find a pianist whose years of experience and boundless talent have reached the matured expression that is identifiable as a fully rounded professional. One who has performed countless gigs, endured the inevitable frustrations of a jazz career, and prevailed with optimism and his supreme technique intact.
Mayer’s style is entirely his own, and it contains a confident richness that involves close attention to the internal voicings of his chords. Unlike the bebop pianists who jab with the left hand and scamper with the right, and unlike some of the more recent contrapuntally based jazz pianists, Mayer concentrates on a fullness of sound as both hands extend the harmonic possibilities of the moment. In turn, he moves the listener through a tune with aplomb.
Not only that, but Mayer’s decision to record in New York availed him of two of the most appropriate practitioners of jazz bass and drum: Rufus Reid and Victor Lewis. Having done the piano trio gig many times before, the three of them immediately lock in, and the effect is that of a group that has been performing for years, such is their intuitive ability born of years of work. While the pleasures afforded by the trio’s version of “I Should Care” (which perhaps intentionally invites comparisons to the famous Bill Evans version) would be enough to relax the most stressed listener, the unexpected lagniappe of can-be-none-other-than-Rufus-Reid’s solo, assertive in the way he pulls the strings and inviting in a melodic context, raises the delight meter even higher.
In contrast, Mayer takes “Falling In Love With Love” as an up-tempo romp, even as he remains wholly in control, emphasis placed upon the notes at the ends of the phrases. And once again, the tightness of the group helps the execution succeed with a version that would fall apart in lesser hands. The same is true of “Stolen Moments,” during which the choices of notes are close to those of the original version, particularly the near dissonances of whole-tone spacing, even as Mayer uses the freer middle section as an occasion for developing his solo.
The warmth of Mayer’s chords heighten the mystery of Mayer’s tune, “Full Circle,” on which he chooses just the right notes to convey preciousness and modulation, Mayer never in a hurry to resolve the tensions of his unresolved chords. J.J. Johnson’s masterpiece of a composition, “Lament,” especially appropriate to Mayer’s touch, provides the opportunity to expand upon its urgency with subdued dramatic flair through the initial rubato section.
By coming full circle, Jon Mayer, after years of working with some of the higher-profile artists of Los Angeles, has returned to his roots, recollecting upon where his career began and offering a lifetime of insights within his playing.
Tracks: Round Up The Usual Suspects, Night And Day, Day Dream, For All We Know, From Now On, Full Circle, Stolen Moments, Falling in Love With Love, Lament, I Should Care
Record Label Website: http://www.reservoirmusic.com
Artist's Website: http://www.jonmayer.com
Reviewed by: Don Williamson