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Pandelis Karayorgis/ Nate McBride/ Curt Newton - Betwixt
Rhodes scholars have come back in vogue over the past several years. Craig Taborn doubles on electric keys in both his solo work and under the employ of Tim Berne. Havard Wiik took a portable Fender console on a fruitful road tour with Atomic several years ago. This Hat set marks Pandelis Karayorgis’ second commercial outing with the instrument. Bassist Nate McBride and drummer Curt Newton are Karayorgis’ inspired compatriots on both. As with the previous album on Clean Feed, Monk factors heavily into the proceedings. The group opens with a Space Age retooling of “Green Chimneys” and slippery unpackings of “Brake’s Sake”, “Light Blue” and “Humph” populate later parts of the program. Palpable sci-fi trappings in Karayorgis’ chosen effects and tonalities feed into the feeling of a forgotten Sun Ra session flavor. No coincidence then that the trio sinks their canines into the Arkestral classic “Saturn”. Karayorgis opens the piece with strafing ray gun swathes as McBride and Newton lock on a skeletal vamp distillation of the familiar aliens-on-safari theme. Ellington, Mengelberg and the increasingly-less recondite Hassan Ibn Ali creep up at the mix as well, evidencing the band’s broad listening palate and the leader’s confidence in tackling covers.
Karayorgis revels in the greasy, perspiration-peppered sonorities of his keyboard, pulling in references to Jarrett circa Miles’ Cellar Door stand and accessing a comparable moody darkness. Glow-in-the-dark keyboard lines stretch and expand like saltwater taffy against the busy and often funky commentary of tightly wound bass and drums. One of three originals, “Break Even” snowballs along, drawing dramatic thrust from the contrast between McBride’s sharply drawn pizzicato strums and the squelching swells of Karayorgis’ chords. Similar jousting justifies the title piece and Newton gets in on the action, stamping authoritative tattoos in the cracks. Wayne Shorter’s “Pinocchio” proves another perfect recruit into the trio’s aesthetic, the tune’s obsidian corners sleeved in the oozing sheen of Karayorgis’ keys. There was a time not so long ago when the prospect of an electric piano in an ensemble would signal shivers of trepidation in my senses. That prejudice had roots in the comparative frequency of its application to trite and dated material. Not so today thanks to players of Karayorgis’ caliber and mien. His chosen style constitutes one of the more creative and kitsch-evasive approaches of recent memory.
~ Derek Taylor
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I really need to hear this one. The Clean Feed discs are excellent.
I’ve always liked Pandelis’s playing, and am a sucker for sweaty Rhodes workouts - so I’d better hop along to the local emporium (gratuitous plug here for anyone visiting Paris in the near future: check out Theo Jarrier’s wonderful new rekkid shop Souffle Continu on rue Gerbier!) and invest.
Meantime, thanks for reminding me, I’ll dig out those older Karayorgis discs on Leo. He does some mean Dolphy covers.
And Hasaan!