(Contemporary Jazz) Frank Harrison Trio - Lunaris - 2014, MP3, 320 kbps

London-based pianist Frank Harrison is probably best known for his work backing saxophonist Gilad Atzmon, but his Lunaris should help to raise his profile
as a major league piano trio guy. It's Harrison's third recorded effort in the trio format, and it stands out in a crowded field full of talent.
Harrison and the trio go against common advice and open with a ballad, a solemn, tender, gorgeously spacious take on David Raksin's tune from the 1954 movie
Apache, "My Love and I." It's not the most familiar of Great American Songbook compositions, but saxophonist Coleman Hawkins put it on display on his Today
and Now (Impulse! Records, 1963), and bassist Charlie Haden covered it with his Quartet West on Sophisticated Ladies ( Decca Records, 2011). Harrison,
bassist Dave Whitford and drummer Enzo Zirille slow it down to a sensual crawl, wringing every drop of beauty from the melody. Don't open with a ballad
unless you can do it this well.
The much covered "I'm Old Fashioned" rides a rhumba groove. Keith Jarrett and his Standard's Trio gave the same treatment to "Poinciana" on their Whisper Not
(ECM Records, 2000) set, and here it acts as a perfect step-up-the-pace, brighten-the-room follow-up to the opener.
"Stars" is an abstract Harrison original, a solo piano effort, with delicate notes flashing like celestial lights blinking on in a dark sky, followed by what
must be trio improvisation, the enigmatic "An Evening of Spacehips and UFOs," to let us know this isn't going to be a straight-though standards album—there's
going to be more mystery and exploration here. The tune wanders I deep space until a gravitational pull asserts itself, drawing the trio into a groove.
The Harrison original, "Io" (one of the planet Jupiter's four Galilean moons) has a subtle, eerie sheen added to the composition's majesty by the addition
of Harrison's synthesizer colorings. "Sunrise (Port Meadow)" is bright and hopeful. "BoRG-58" is a prickly, muscular trio improvisation. Johnny Mandel's
"Emily" has never sounded lovelier or more lively, with exceptional trio interplay, leading into the disc's closer, Harrison' s solo "Stars II," a brief, lean beautiful rumination.
Lunaris is a marvelous piano trio outing—fresh takes on some of the standards a bunch of forward-leaning originals by piano star on the rise. DAN MCCLENAGHAN

Frank Harrison - Piano
After taking up a scholarship at Berklee School Of Music, Boston, Frank returned to England and joined Gilad Atzmon's band. In 2000 they started the Orient
House Ensemble, which regularly tours Europe, playing at major Jazz and World music festivals. Frank has also performed with Peter King, Julian Arguelles,
Julian Siegel, Don Weller, Alan Barnes, John Etheridge, Louis Stewart and Iain Ballamy.
Frank Harrison is one of the most talented young musicians I have heard. Ronnie Scott
Dave Whitford - Bass
Dave is one of the leading bassists of his generation and has worked with many of the top names in the music world including Bill Frisell, Maceo Parker,
Steve Lacy, Paul Carrack, Marc Copland, John Taylor, Dave Liebman, The NDR Big Band, The BBC Big Band, Mike Gibbs, Jack Bruce, Evan Parker, Kirk Lightsey,
Ed Thigpen, Christine Tobin, Billy Hart, Kenny Wheeler, Phil Robson, Josh Roseman, Ray Gelato and Gilad Atzmon.
Enzo Zirilli - Drums
Enzo is considered one of the most creative and versatile drummer/percussionist of the last generations, having worked and recorded all around the world for
the last 25 years with great artists from Jazz, World music and Pop scene like: Charlie Mariano, James Moody, Bob Mintzer, Tom Harrell, Peter Bernstein,
Dado Moroni, Enrico Pieranunzi, Marco Pereira, Hamish Stuart, Gloria Gaynor, Jim Mullen, Liane Carroll, Gareth Williams, Stan Sulzmann, John Parricelli,
Omar Lye Fook, Antonio Forcione, Anselmo Netto, Sarah Gillespie, Gilad Atzmon, Alex Garnett, among the others.