Customer Reviews

Beautiful

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"The Beautiful" is Triptych Myth's first of three albums for AUM Fidelity. Led by visionary jazz multi-instrumentalist and under-recognized composer Cooper-Moore, the trio is rounded out by bassist Tom Abbs and drummer Chad Taylor. Although equally known for his home-made instruments and unconventional techniques, here the leader sticks solely to piano, bringing with him over three decades of playing experience. While this is not the first album recorded by this ensemble, it is their most diverse and the most emblematic of their varied talents.

Opening the album with the skittering lines and frenzied free-bop pulse of "All Up In It," the trio quickly side-steps expected cliché by following with "Frida K. The Beautiful," a devastatingly ruminative ballad that is the yin to the opener's yang. The trio moves across the spectrum of jazz tradition from open ended free meditations like "Trident" and "A Time To" to the angular post-bop, call and response work-out of "Spiraling Out." Down home funky folk melodies like "Poppa's Gin In The Chicken Feed" and "Pooch" represent the rural tradition of American folk music. Exemplifying the trio's ability to circumvent traditional structures, "Pooch" eradicates expected stylistic boundaries by inverting the preconceived notion of soloist and rhythm section. With its repeated, bittersweet melody line underscored by Taylor's open ended free form drumming, Cooper-Moore holds the rhythmic structure of the tune down while the drummer embarks on what is essentially a continuous drum solo.

Cooper-Moore is a devilish pianist, with a touch that varies from deft pianissimo to throttling tone clusters, no technique is left unused. Chad Taylor, who has worked with everyone from the Chicago post-rock crowd to composer/improviser John Zorn, shines here. Often finding rubato rhythms to explore, Taylor is an imposing presence and it is a delight to hear him in such a stripped down acoustic setting. Tom Abbs often plays mediator in the trio, finding the spaces left unfilled by the other two, accompanying them from sporadic root note plucking to full on torrents of arco bowing. The close-knit interplay of these three is apparent from the album's first notes and subsequent listening reveals what is easily the year's finest jazz piano trio record.

Finding inspiration in sources as diverse as Cecil Taylor's classic free jazz excursions of the 1960's to the rural folkways of the Deep South, Triptych Myth is the ultimate distillation of improvised American folk music. "The Beautiful" is a historically aware case study in the diversity of a music who's relevance only deepens with the passing of time.

this is immediately gratifying music because it's very lyrical, a lyricism that juxtaposes nicely with avant garde piano. not that cooper-moore's playing reminds me of cecil taylor's playing so much, but listening to his taylored excursions i hear the ellington in the taylor.

the other taylor, chad taylor, who plays drums on the recording, uses cymbals and sticks like instruments separate from the drums; on drums he becomes the complete percussionist.

tom abbs on bass makes triptych myth seamless.

We need more recordings like this. I have never heard so much past, present, and future on a single disc before. It is as if the whole history of this music is unfolding before your very ears. Cooper-Moore is an astounding pianist and judging by that, he must be an equally astounding human being. To be able to create such sounds that encompass a full spectrum of emotion, and in such a -beautiful-way, would seem to be the work of a lifetime. Laugh, cry, sing, dance, and all things joyous are to be found here.
Tom Abbs and Chad Taylor have played together for a few years now. They can be heard on discs from c.i.m.p. and delmark backing players like Jemeel Moondoc, Steve Swell, and Ori Kaplan. Taylor is a unique percussionist and refreshing in this piano-bass-drums context. Tom Abbs is all over his bass, creating big beefy sounds that add depth and texture to the mix. The trio sounds like they've played together for a while and, indeed, they have a previous release on the hopscotch label.
The sound and production are exceptional. The music is of such a high quality that decades from now it will continue to be re-released. Cooper-Moore is setting a new standard for the contemporary piano trio. This WILL be one to grow old with. I can hardly wait for the impending follow up discs. Thanks for the treasure Aum Fidelity.

Cooper-Moore solidifies his status as one of the greatest pianists America has yet produced, and he does it in some serious company. Tom Abbs (bass) and Chad Taylor (drums). Is C-M the most lyrical outside player ever? I think so... and he has the school of fish or megaflock of small birds contours. That's the only way I can describe the movement of his playing sometimes. It's like the piano, rather than being one item, is broken down into many organisms all locked into each others' brainwaves. When you're watching a documentary that shows a school of a million shimmering herring or anchovies all moving, shape-shifting, swirling and folding in on itself as one big amoebic creature... translate that visual into sound and you have a glimpse into Cooper-Moore's playing...

... Unless he happens to be playing a beautiful ballad like Frida. Some of the outside players can only do ecstatic catharsis. Everything is aggressive. Not C-M. You can sing some of his piano playing.

Abbs and Taylor are more than foils for C-M's beautiful brilliance. They lead the charge in places. Abbs makes use of the bow for some recent favorite arco work on one track here. He locks into this morphing, repetitious pulse that sounds like some sort of mechanized sound reverberating throughout a manufacturing plant. Not industrial music in a NIN or Skinny Puppy "industrial as a genre" way, but industrial as in the sounds of the industrial throb and scrape of the mechanized world. I love that whole track.

The clips on this page tell none of the story of the beauty with which these songs and improvisation unfold on the album. This is not your daddy's "piano trio".

This and the recently rereleased 2 Days in April are 2 of my favorite albums I've bought in 2008. I still don't know why 2 Days isn't available here. You can buy it from the label's (Eremite) website, doubleUdoubleUdoubleUdotEremitedotkom. That band/cd is incredible!