[5/19/17] "Solo Piano Forays Define the Limits of Improvised Music"
One pianist who doesn’t use post-production and overdubbing is Canadian D.D. Jackson, whose Live at Freedom of Sound is exactly as advertised. It features the Ottawa-native improvising on his own compositions plus one by his mentor, the late pianist Don Pullen. Jackson’s tunes include ones like “Tunnel Vision” which wed a waterfall of glissandi to a bluesy backbeat that also strike the instrument’s wood. It’s both soulful and sophisticated as it surges ahead with room left for strident plinking detours. Or the pieces can be lyrical and soothing, as the Pullen-memorial “For Don” which makes its points through squirming amoeba-like jabs that culminate in an implicit feeling of melancholy. Some motifs sound instantly familiar, but are sweet without being cloying. Even jaunty, demonstrative “D.D.’s Bounce/Better Angels”, with its foot-patting exposition, at the finale, includes a middle section where pressurized single-note emphasis leaves no doubt about cerebral toughness. But perhaps the most telling track is “Richard’s Tune”, which Pullen composed in honor of another influential pianist, Muhal Richard Abrams. A solid synthesis of almost pre-modern chording and melodic suggestions, the waltz-time tune maintains a contemporary feel by sliding low-pitched percussive jumps in the midst of its gently rhythmic story-telling. At the same time Jackson’s high-quality and unique interpretation confirms his place in the jazz lineage that includes Pullen and Abrams.
Ken Waxman, the WholeNote