Customer Reviews

Retrospective/Debut

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Tom Lawton is a Philadelphia pianist who's been working hard on developing a formidable, twohanded playing style that draws on a wide spectrum of jazz (from mainstream piano to the avantgarde) & has slowly put together on a very ambitious body of compositions. His interest is in the long form--some of these pieces are as long & involved as Mingus's "Sue's Changes" or "Open Letter to Duke". Sometimes the results do seem a bit unwieldy--"Islands" for instance is very pretty but it left me often wondering where it was headed, & almost all these tracks are very, very long--but mostly the results are genuinely fresh & thought-provoking. "Waxing Schachterian" for instance does something with Monk's legacy utterly different than anyone else has got out of Monk, & "Dig the Chartreuse" does something similarly original with familiar hard-bop idioms. There are also three pieces which push out into freely improvised territory--best of all on "The Norman D Invasion" & "Archetypal Archives", which will take unawares any listeners who haven't been listening closely & haven't noticed how much freedom Lawton works into even the more orthodox tracks. He's got an excellent, all-Philadelphia band with him (Ben Schachter on saxophones, John Swana on trumpet, Lee Smith on bass, Jim Miller on drums; on "The Norman D Invasion" Schachter sits out in favour of clarinettist Norman David, whom actually I would have liked to hear more of); but though sometimes Lawton simply plays in a fairly uncontroversial mainstream jazz piano style, he's always capable of doing something genuinely startling, & tends to hold my attention the most.

Besides the free pieces, my favourites here are the two solo performances, the only standards on the date: a breathtaking dash through "Donna Lee" (lightning-fast yet without a note out of place) & the extraordinary Impressionist meditation on Wayne Shorter's "Juju". Let's put it this way: if you've ever found yourself collecting Concord's Maybeck Recital Hall series of solo piano discs, you'll find these tracks utterly fascinating.

I'll give this four stars simply as a warning: though it's not "difficult" music exactly, you still do need to work at it a bit. I could wish DreamBox Media had put together a more inviting package--the title & cover art aren't exactly inspiring, & listeners unfamiliar with Lawton's name may baulk at purchasing a double-CD by a largely unknown musician with (except for Swana) largely unknown sidemen. Perhaps it would have been worth boiling down these two hours of music to a single 80-music CD. But I shouldn't complain too much: this release is well worth the trouble if you're looking for something a little different--this isn't as obviously "innovative" as, say, a Greg Osby or Don Byron disc, but deep down Lawton's just as explorary a musician. Let's hope Lawton returns to the studio agian soon--in which case I have my fingers crossed that he does a solo disc or a duet disc, because he's a player who gets better & better the more open space he's given. The solo pieces, the free pieces, & the trumpet-piano duet "Grey Matter Doesn't" are the highlights for me on this set. & do dig around on the web for the excellent interview with Lawton done in the 1990s by Vic Schermer--it's a good read & gives you a real sense of the man & his thoughtful, disciplined approach to musicmaking.

Tom Lawton's new CD is a lively debut from one of Philadelphia's veteran jazz pianists. His original compositions although indebted to Monk and Wayne Shorter display their own unique modernistic style while featuring Lawton's virtuoso technique. The other musicians in this all Philly group also display stellar performances. I have recently heard him live and recommend others to do so. This two CD retrospective(1975-2003) deserves it's place in the collection of any jazz fan.