More piano trio encounters of the modern mainstream kind (CD reviews)

Yes! (Sunnyside Records)
Ali Jackson, Aaron Goldberg, Omer Avital

It doesn’t take long for drummer Ali Jackson, pianist Aaron Goldberg and bassist Omer Avital to let you know what they’re all about on their collective effort Yes!

The disc, released yesterday, kicks off with a slow, sumptuous version of Abdullah Ibrahim’s Maraba Blue. The music’s dramatically drawn, gospel-informed soulfulness is viscerally moving. The trio makes not only every note count, but the silences are swinging too on this entrancing, hypnotically grooving track.

There’s much more on Yes! to make a listener react with head-bobbing, foot-stomping and smiles. The bluesy, spiritual vibe of the CD’s opening track is rarely far away, bubbling up on an long version of Duke Ellington’s The Shepherd, an ebullient rendition of Mercer Ellington’s Way Way Back. Jackson’s country-tinged ballad El Soul and Eli Digibri’s oddly named late-night tune Manic Depressive, which closed the CD. While on other occasions and recordings, Jackson and Goldberg can be heard playing a somewhat different brand of modern mainstream jazz — more harmonically and rhythmically forward-looking music by Kurt Rosenwinkel, for example, the blues-first, brass-tacks jazz on Yes! would likely draw big-time approval from Wynton Marsalis, who has also employed the pianist and drummer.

In addition to covering music from the Ellington’s the trio has a thing for Monk’s Epistophy, as you can hear in the clip below:

Adding breadth and sparks to disc are two originals by Avital — the broadly swinging title track, ushered in by a big, declarative bass introduction, and Homeland, an exotic waltzing tune that nods to the bassist’s roots. Jackson’s Aziel Dance is a pretty brevity.

Robust and deeply intended from start to finish, this aptly named CD delivers a big burst of positive feeling, rich with the bluesiness and eloquence that jazz does best.