Love And Beauty by Roberta Piket Trio

The project also reflects a new level of confidence in Piket’s playing. There’s an assurance in which her considerable technique is focused on the music’s larger needs. Abetted by Harris and Mintz, Piket’s explorations of “love and beauty” reveal the deep passion of her magnificent musical obsession.

Piket, referring to her decision to use the Billy Mintz original for the project’s title, says: “Today, invoking words like ‘love’ and ‘beauty’ is almost rebellious given the politics of division and war which are so pervasive.”

The concept of “beauty” as used by classical aestheticians who connected it to “the sublime” gets to the heart of what makes Piket’s work so powerful. While drawing on the legacy of Bill Evans’ great trios, Piket has tapped into a kind of free-ranging spontaneity that lifts all. Though it‘s a dangerous game, Piket and her trio thrill us time and again by dancing fearlessly and freely at the edge.

Piket’s “I’m My Everything,” based loosely on Harry Warren’s “You’re My Everything” (and which she previously recorded on Live at the Blue Note), is a rousing opener. Her solo starts with a two-handed contrapuntalism that evolves into sizzling post-modern jazz. Switching from brushes to sticks, Mintz turns up the heat, as Harris stokes the fire from below.

Written in memory of family member Harvey Nelson, Piket’s poignantly wrought “For Uncle Harvey” is at once introspective and quietly celebratory. Here, Piket’s understated, almost minimalistic approach stirs feelings of love and beauty that communicate to all. Note Mintz’s subtle brushwork underneath.

Piket’s exuberant reframing of Jimmy Webb’s “Up, Up and Away” is a trio tour de force. Here, the metric flow of the Fifth Dimension hit is dramatically deconstructed into seething theme-and-alteration episodes that flow seamlessly through several meters. Mintz’s dramatic drum solo near the end begins as an experiment in colors, then crescendos into an explosion of pure energy.

The first of Mintz’s three originals is “Flight.” The trio engages the tune’s formidable, Trane-esque harmonic challenges at a brisque tempo. Among the highlights are Harris’ jaw-dropping solo, a remarkable duet by Piket and Mintz, and the trio’s deeply grooved sense of swing.

Mintz’s “Love and Beauty” is a haunting ballad showcasing the trio’s unabashedly romantic side. With its freely inflected meditations, its brooding heart-felt passions unfold with appealing directness. Another of its assets is Harris’ searingly intense arco melodic statement.

“Destiny” includes the project’s biggest surprise in that it introduces Piket as a vocalist. “I’ve always been a closet singer,” she shares. “My mother was a singer. And recently I’ve been singing as well as playing on gigs for senior citizens. The over-90 set,” she offers with a smile, “is a very forgiving demographic.”

Mintz’s ballad, whose lyrics include “Our love, so blind our hearts can’t see…Only love is destiny,” unreels with a smoldering quality reminiscent of Hollywood’s film noir classics of the Forties. Piket’s plaintive, nearly vibrato-less voice is pitch perfect, musically and dramatically. Adding to the noirish aura is Rich Perry whose hard-boiled yet tender tenor sax is the perfect foil to Piket’s voice.

Piket’s “Alone Alone” is an inspired tip-of-the-hat to the singular Lennie Tristano. Based on the standard “Alone Together,” Piket’s bracingly angular line is an effective springboard for the trio’s individual and collective forays. There’s a sense of flow that grabs hold and never lets go. Included is an ear-grabbing exchange between Piket and Mintz in which the drummer’s melodic as well as rhythmic gifts take center stage. Harris’ solo shows off a melodic side of his virtuosity.

In “Claude’s Clawed”, the trio’s free-flowing trajectories orbit with audacity. Inspired by her cat Claude but written specifically as a challenge to her bandmates, the pianist’s advanced harmonies set the stage for pantonal explorations both in and out of time.

Cole Porter’s “So In Love” is an effective curtain-closer. Set up as a beguine-like lament with Harris’ arco bass and Mintz’s mallets, Piket limns Porter’s heartbreaking melody with a longing that is painfully beautiful. Here, as elsewhere, Piket’s perfect use of space boldly sets off her dramatic and broad brushstrokes.

Love and Beauty, by any measure, is a notable achievement. For Piket and her trio, it is a benchmark attesting to the group’s ever evolving artistry. For listeners, Piket’s trio offers a passion and spontaneity accessible to all. There’s something here for everyone (including 90-year-old senior citizens)!

Dr. Chuck Berg, Film-Media Studies, University of Kansas

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