CD of the Day - "Marc Copland: Night Whispers"

CD of the Day
Marc Copland: "New York Trio Recordings Vol. 3 - Night Whispers" (Pirouet) 2009
"Night Whispers", part three of my dear friend Marc Copland's much acclaimed "New York Trio Recordings," is a highlight of the subtle art of the post-Bill Evans piano trio: three sophisticated virtuosos (Copland on piano, Drew Gress on bass and the better each day Bill Stewart on drums) join on an exquisite flight of sizzlingly joyful musical discourse. To follow this highly-refined three-way conversation is an experience that can take your breath away and eventually purify your soul through 59 minutes of extreme beauty.
Recorded (June 8 & 9, 2008 at Bennett Studios, New Jersey) and mixed by Pirouet's head, saxophonist Jason Seizer, this new CD sublime CD includes three Copland's originals ("The Bell Tolls," "Scattered Leaves" and the title track "Night Whispers"), one by Gress ("Like it Never Was") and another one by Stewart ("Space Acres"), an intriguing version of Miles Davis' classic "So What" (that Copland brings into his own world, giving plenty of room to solos by Gress and Stewart), and ends with the famous Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn standard ballad "I Fall in Love Too Easily." The album centerpiece, Johnny Mandel's "Emily" (a Bill Evans favorite) is heard on three different short solo takes - the longer takes 2m12s. Take 2 is specially sumptuous, an impromptu that makes us dream of how Schumann could play jazz ballads.