Red Willow

A piano trio led by a neo hippie that doesn't look like he would make originals that sounds like Charlie Brown music. If his opening Charlie Brown riffs don't grab you (and they will), there's plenty more stuff here that will. Spending the last decade as sidekick to a host of biggies, the pandemic forced him to realize it's time to shine his own star. Taking the chops he honed in the 1 a.m. Lab Band and pointing them toward the future, he knows how to stylize in the tradition of all your fave piano jazzbos---and do it without diminishing himself in the process. A welcome tonic of a date that clears the palette in fine style.