Frank Kimbrough 2003-2006 Volume One: Lullabluebye & Volume Two: Play 4LP

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Tracking Angle Rated 9/11 Music, 9/11 Sonics!

TAS Rated 4.5/5 Music, 4.5/5 Sonics in the May/June 2023 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

"Frank Kimbrough has been a valuable pianist based in the New York area ever since the early '80s. On this [album] he is teamed with bassist Ben Allison (who along with Kimbrough co-founded the Jazz Composers Collective and the Herbie Nichols Project) and drummer Matt Wilson. They perform six of the pianist's originals plus 'You Only Live Twice' from a James Bond movie and Allison's 'Ben's Tune.' The music is unpredictable post-bop jazz and it includes 'Centering' (which is influenced a little by Thelonious Monk), a piece dedicated to Andrew Hill ('Ode'), the well-titled 'Whirl,' and 'Ghost Dance,' which is inspired by the unusual avant-garde music of Annette Peacock. The music on Lullabluebye often sounds simpler than it is, setting impressionistic and sometimes introspective moods and swinging in its own fashion without being overly tied to earlier jazz styles. The three musicians often play as one, although Kimbrough is clearly the leader; it is just that he seems open to the musical suggestions of Allison and Wilson. This is an excellent program of modern jazz that grows in interest with each listen due to its subtlety and quiet surprises." -praise for Lullabluebye, Scott Yanow, AllMusic.com, 4/5 stars

"Pianist Frank Kimbrough delivers more of his deeply introspective, harmonically complex jazz on Play. Working with a trio, Kimbrough is supported here by the adept bassist Masa Kamaguchi and drummer Paul Motian. A phenomenal pianist, Kimbrough's mix of Thelonious Monk's cubist bumptiousness and Bill Evans' impressionistic colorations is thoroughly modern and prefigures the work some of his younger, more ballyhooed contemporaries, like Brad Mehldau and Jacky Terrasson. Moving from tumbling ballads to playful waltzes and enigmatic modal pieces, Kimbrough has crafted a challenging, atmospheric, and subtle album that makes the most of his sensitive group's interplay." -praise for Play, Matt Collar, AllMusic.com, 4/5 stars

Play was, and remains, Kimbrough's most [Paul] Bley-like album—it's probably why he wanted [Paul] Motian for the session—so Motian knew exactly what to do. It sounds like they'd been playing together for years. Kamaguchi plucks anchors, blue notes, counterparts, pivots, or sometimes just mood-noodlings with the energy of a Gary Peacock or Charlie Haden but with his own touch. By 'Bley-like,' I mean the music is airy but crisp; the melody floats over the meter, though both are loose, yet they're also somehow centered; you can tap your foot and sway your head to this music, even if you're not quite sure where the center is or what makes your body move to it. Motian has something to do with this...It's a gorgeous album: dreamy, but too muscular to be tagged New Age. Lullabyeblue is a more leisurely album; Kimbrough hadn't fully tapped into his inner Bley, and his trio-mates are old friends, which allows a freedom to the proceedings—they each know the other's moves—but not the same adventure or risk. Still, this too is a frisky delight, a medley of gentle blues, breezy rambles, and chromatic escapades, all with mysterious feints and turnarounds.

The new mixes invite the kind of listening where you can shift your focus from piano to bass to drums at any moment and gain a whole new perspective on the music being played. Or you can relax your attention and drift in the stream.