Jazz pianist Moran lends harmony, edge to three albums
By Larry Blumenfeld
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Jason Moran's piano is the thread connecting three new recordings, all of them relating to jazz, yet each distinct.
In the past three months, he's been featured on saxophonist Charles Lloyd's "Rabo de Nube" (ECM), violinist Jenny Scheinman's "Crossing the Field" (Koch) and singer Cassandra Wilson's "Loverly" (Blue Note).
"They all hired me for how I can play beautiful and for how I can play ugly too," Moran says of how these musicians recognize the lyricism in his playing as well as his love of harmonic and rhythmic edge.
"Loverly," which debuted in June at No. 4 on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart, rekindles an old connection. Moran first worked with Wilson a decade ago, before the release of his debut album, when he was known primarily for his work in saxophonist Greg Osby's band.
"She just came up to the piano and said, 'Go ahead.' Then she walked off the stage for a while and let me play," Moran recalls of their first gig. Such a level of trust was motivating then, as well as more recently, when Wilson reinterpreted standards for her new set. "She wanted us to come up with a groove for each song, however we feel it, and she'd find her way inside," he says.
In jazz elder statesman Lloyd's quartet, Moran extends a stellar piano lineage that traces back to Keith Jarrett, in Lloyd's wildly popular late-'60s band.
"Few musicians overtly express their spirituality," he says. "And Charles has a way through his music of warming you up. It's captivating. When you play the music you feel like it's more than just playing a tune -- it's like prayer."
Scheinman, a rising star among free-thinking improvisers, first heard Moran playing with bassist Christian McBride at now-defunct Lower East Side club Tonic. She sent him a note the next day saying simply, "You blew me away." Soon Moran was drawn into the constellation of musicians with whom Scheinman keeps company, which includes such stars as Bill Frisell.
Moran will hit the studio this fall for his eighth Blue Note album, which will include a piece inspired by the life and times of Thelonious Monk and a personal pilgrimage to Monk's hometown of Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
Reuters/Billboard
