Solitude: Solo Improvisations

Moments of absolute bliss. . . .Pellegrin does as the great pianists do, providing encouragement and graceful touches in the background, before jumping forward to take solos that are by turns florid and cracked, balletic and modern.
Downbeat

Having released three powerful, boundary-crossing quintet records over the past decade, Rich Pellegrin turns to a small historic church, a piano, and an abundance of open time for Solitude, a set of contemplative improvisations. Recorded at Whidbey Island's charming Langley Methodist Church, near Seattle, Pellegrin captures the spirit of place in these times, exploring the wide-open spaces of the mind and reconnecting with water, mountains and forest. The piano itself, a relic with its own idiosyncrasies and character, is another personality in the performance as its creaks and exhortations suggest paths for the performance to wander. With Solitude, an accomplished musical mind with far-reaching intentions offers the freedom to just "be."

Production Info:

Produced by Rich Pellegrin
Recorded by Rich Pellegrin at
Langley United Methodist Church,
Langley, WA, Summer, 2019
Mixed & Mastered by Rob Boullion,
assisted by Caleb Alexander at
LinderVox Sound, Columbia, MO
Cover design & layout by John Bishop

Reviews of Solitude: Solo Improvisations

All About Jazz (Dan McClenaghan)
4-STARS Pianist Richard Pellegrin teaches at the University of Florida, in Gainesville. But, when he is not teaching, he flies diagonally across the country to land in Seattle. Then he catches a ferry to Whidbey Island—his retreat from the daily hubbub of making a living. His CD release Solitude was recorded there, at the Langley Methodist Churc ...

Midwest Record (Chris Spector)
Solo piano improv that veers from impressionistic to stately and back. Leaving his group work behind for a hot second, this set gives him the room to stretch out and really call his own shots as there's no need for telepathy. The cat plays deep and never loses your attention. ...

The Answer Is In The Beat, WCBN (Paul Simpson)
Rich Pellegrin's last album was performed with the quintet he's been playing with for a decade, with one piece performed by a contemporary classical ensemble from the University of Missouri. His newest release, however, consists entirely of solo piano improvisations recorded in a church in Washington. The majority of them are brief, encountering a ...

Columbia Daily Tribune (Aarik Danielsen)
One-time University of Missouri professor Rich Pellegrin sits down at the piano and builds worlds on his latest album. Exquisite and meditative, "Solitude: Solo Improvisations" (OA2) unites the language of 21st-century jazz and neoclassical music to create something curious and spiritual. Pellegrin now splits time between two disparate climates ...

CirdecSongs (Cedric Hendrix)
A pianist with a deft sense of touch and a good feel for melody, Rich Pellegrin goes it alone with this album of improvisations recorded over the summer of 2019. The pieces are relatively short (rarely lasting more than two minutes), but sometimes it doesn't take long to convey the message. Pellegrin is not as raw or abstract as Keith Jarrett, find ...

Jazz'halo (Belgium) (Georges Tonla Briquet)
In the summer of 2019, pianist Rich Pellegrin withdrew to the Langley United Methodist Church on Whidbey Island (near Seattle) with the aim of confronting the musician in himself while improvising. From those moments of musical reflection he selected twenty-five short pieces that were given adapted titles ('Improvisation I' – 'Improvisation XXV') ...

Jazz Weekly (George W Harris)
Pianist Rich Pellegrin goes solo for XXV Improvisations ranging between a concise 48 seconds and a stretched out 6 minutes plus. There are plenty of rewards, with dashes similar to Eric Satie on "XII" and "XXII" to romance a la Bill Evans during "XIX". He gets playful on pieces like VIII" and bouncy like Vince Guaraldi during "XVI" while using spac ...

Jazz'halo (Belgium) (Stephen Godsall)
This album of solo improvisations achieved two things at first listen; it grabbed my attention for 40 minutes when I'd only intended to listen for 10, then it sent me to the piano to try out some of the same ideas. Further listening has confirmed that the music is something special. Rich Pellegrin is a pianist, composer, writer and professor of ...

Earshot Jazz (Grant Grays)
Solitude has been a central theme of the human condition for the past fifteen months. With the planet under lockdown to temper the spread of COVID-19 we have all spent time alone in abundance. While loneliness has been an unavoidable feature of this moment, we have also been afforded the opportunity to explore the feature of aloneness. Aloneness do ...

All About Jazz (Dan McClenaghan)
BEST OF 2021 Richard Pellegrin has previously recorded with his "two horns and a rhythm section" ensemble, fashioning a distinctive modern jazz sound of well-constructed, forward-leaning compositions. But, with Solitude, the pianist changes gears, a shift to an intimate, contemplative solo piano recording, shaping twenty-five cohesive freely impro ...

Jazz Convention (Italy) (Nicola Barin)
After his prodigious work on the quintet album "Down", the pianist and professor of music at the University of Florida decides to isolate himself and dedicate his first solo album to himself and his audience. To set up this remarkable feat, the emphasis is immediately placed on the dynamics of the piano and on color. The choice of instrument is par ...

Jazz Convention (Italy) (Nicola Barin)
After the prodigious work in the quintet "Down", the pianist and professor of music at the University of Florida decides to isolate himself and dedicate his first solo album to himself and his audience. To set up this remarkable feat, the accent is immediately placed on the dynamics of the piano and on color. The choice of instrument is particular, ...