COMPOSERS: Jacky Terrasson
LABELS: Blue Note
ALBUM TITLE: Jacky Terrasson Trio
PERFORMER: Jacky Terrasson (p), Ugonna Okegwo (b), Leon Parker (d)
CATALOGUE NO: 859 651-2
Recorded at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club in June 1997, this album neatly captures the essence of pianist Jacky Terrasson’s live sound. Not only is it structured to mimic a club set, but it also faithfully reproduces the delighted laughter of an appreciative audience and the impassioned grunts of the musicians.
Terrasson’s approach, combining the springy spaciousness of one of Miles Davis’s favourite pianists, Ahmad Jamal, with the flowing elegance of Herbie Hancock, is perfectly complemented by the multi-textured, minimalist percussion of Leon Parker; their combined originality is firmly anchored by the imaginative but rock-steady bass lines of Ugonna Okegwo.
As a result of such open-eared virtuosity, the leader’s aim of producing ‘traditional piano-trio music affected by different contemporary musical currents’ is triumphantly vindicated throughout. Chris Parker