Hindsight: Live At La Seine Musicale [CD]

If it ever seems that the art of the jazz piano trio has gone as far as anyone can reasonably take it - this given the legacy of great artists like Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Cecil Taylor, Ahmad Jamal and Keith Jarrett - the new recording by Italian master Enrico Pieranunzi is a triumphant assertion of the durability and creative vitality of the form. Working with two of the most musical players in the business, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron, Pieranunzi largely avoids the Broadway songbook in favour of original compositions coloured by his deep love and understanding of jazz but also his knowledge of classical and Baroque form, folk and other popular music.As a title, Hindsight may imply a looking back, but Pieranunzi recognises that that is the only way to move the music forward. The themes here may seem both naggingly familiar and utterly fresh. It's music of great generosity and openness, not a self-consciously magisterial statement by a great artist content to rest on his own reputation, but a contract of promise with the audience that jazz is far from running out of new things to say and new feelings to express.