Mirage [CD]

Pianist & composer Andrew Moorhead offers a strikingly personal suite of etudes-music born of inquiry, discipline, and risk. Conceived as a kind of private journal, these pieces explore phased time signatures, interlocking melodic cycles, and the elusive space between muscle memory and pure spontaneity. Moorhead's long pursuit of "total liberation" at the piano-having reshaped his technique after catastrophic injuries from a 47-foot fall in 2011-yields a language where skeletal gestures bloom into fluid counterpoint. The result is music that feels at once architectural and airborne. Finding the perfect bandmates in the towering bassist FranÏois Moutin, and one of the most idiosyncratic drummers in jazz, Ari Hoenig, their deep rapport generates a kinetic, almost telepathic interplay. Mirage stands as a bold trio statement-intellect and intuition in vivid balance, and a compelling new chapter in Moorhead's evolving voice. "I thought I'd heard just about every approach to the piano, then Andrew Moorhead's new album came along - it's a great reminder that true originality is still out there." Scott Kinsey "... The music is exceptional and consistently engaging. A wonderful recording." All About Jazz