Lions

For Yelena Eckemoff, finding the nexus where training and an early successful career in the classical sphere meet with the Moscow-born, North Carolina-resident pianist/composer’s more recent predilection for jazz and improvised music has been a wholly natural pursuit. A meeting place where the whole is invariably greater than the sum of its parts, with Lions – her eighth jazz album in nine years – Eckemoff once again raises the bar on a very personal approach to bringing detailed composition and freewheeling extemporization together with the idea of music as real narrative. It’s hard not to be swept away by Eckemoff’s vision of African vistas and wildlife from a lioness’ viewpoint. Eckemoff’s music finds compelling middle ground between through composition and the loose interpretative interaction that any trio bolstered by the bass of Andersen on the bass and drums of Billy Hart is bound to possess. The three musicians traverse considerable territory, from ethereal atmospherics both sun-charred and moonlit indigo and more grounded explorations of groove, to cinematic expanses that evoke imagery reflective of Eckemoff’s experience – the soundtrack to the most personal of imaginary films. And whether it’s Eckemoff’s impeccable virtuosity and penchant for the impressionistic, Andersen’s lithe muscularity and irresistibly singing tone, or Hart’s ability to suggest time with the broadest use of color and texture, Lions is an album that continues to surprise long after it’s been spun for the first time. Fans and critics alike are increasingly captivated by Yelena Eckemoff’s most personal, narrative approach to chamber-informed music-making. With an imagination as free as that of the majestic animals to whom she aspires, Lions is yet another leap forward in the career of an artist whose name may still be relatively new to the jazz world, but whose reputation is gaining ground with each successive release.