Catching Yourself Gracefully

Pianist Tim Green new recording, Jeannie's Song, was recently featured in my Nights at the Turntable article, Origin Arts: The Tsunami from Seattle. Mr. Green is one of a growing number of young jazz musicians who are shaping jazz for the 21st century. His approach to jazz is through his bright and intelligent compositions, as well as his careful analyses of the standards literature. Catching Yourself Gracefully, the prelude to Jeannie's Song, offers illustrations of these talents in detail. Green's Latin touch is demonstrated on his own "Coyote Samba" and Cedar Walton's "Bolivia," where rhythm and percussion (both pianistic and trap-set) rule the pieces.

Tim Green's ballad playing flows from the same well as that of Bill Evans, Fred Hersch, Lynne Arriale, and Alan Broadbent. The title piece is an expansive observation of tone and color. It compares perfectly with Green's tasteful treatment of Cole Porter's "Love for Sale," which is taken at a lazy, ironic pace. "Green Eggs & Funk" change the landscape into something a little more abstractly greasy, perhaps anticipating exciting disc closer, Errol Dixon's "Back at the Chicken Shack." Good stuff�all good stuff.