Triptych Myth - The Beautiful

AUM Fidelity 35

The demise of the piano trio as a viable jazz configuration has been prefigured and prognosticated upon for quite some time. I’ve fallen into the trap of using the theory as a means of boostering new bands that fall outside established parameters. Cooper-Moore, Tom Abbs and Chad Taylor, collectively known as Triptych Myth, prove unequivocally the straw man status of such an argument.

Aptly-named to the point of perfection, The Beautiful presents a concise program of ten tracks and registers invitingly into the range of old vinyl playing times. Cooper-Moore covers the 88’s with a stylistically far reaching sweep, from chamber concert patrician to barrelhouse raconteur and back, the James Booker of the ‘free jazz’ set. His gunny-sack of invented instruments stays in the foot locker and accords his full attention to the piano. Abbs anchors and advances on a bass, achieving obelisk-sized proportions in terms of tone and density, but far from an immovable object. The palpable weight has little bearing on his dexterity and sterling ability to shape vibrant contrapuntal lines. Taylor rules his kit with a sovereign authority, wielding sticks and brushes with even facility and representing an engine room that runs on atomic rather than coal-fire energy.

Together the three players sketch an eventful itinerary. “All Up In It” reflects the resolve of its title as the trio engages in a fast-paced relay that veers from tightly structured to semi-free. Here an elsewhere Cooper-Moore’s attack carries curious echoes of Andrew Hill, circa the later Blue Note sessions, dark clusters dropping like freshly-plucked Morel mushrooms. “Trident” opens opaque and dour, but soon shifts to contrast of Cooper-Moore’s fitful indigo chords and the chattery, untethered responses of his colleagues. With “Spiraling Out” the trio dives intrepidly into a whirlpool exchange of stabbing block chords, stinging ripcord bass, and frothing cymbal-forwarded drums. “A Time Too” travels a similar tack of mutual unrest indexed by interludes of confluence, while “Poppa’s Gin in the Chicken Feed” introduces a congenial dollop of Guaraldi-style parlor swing and M-Base funk.

The most impressive and endearing of the pieces end up being the ballads. “For Frida K.” saunters out as a somber and haunting waltz. Cooper-Moore’s sparse filigree notes shape a theme that is at once delicate and assertive. Abbs and Taylor sculpt a surrounding accompaniment, rich and responsive and the piece takes on an aura spiritual akin to the Ellington-Mingus-Roach opus “Fleurette Africaine. The heartfelt rondo “Pooch,” penned as an ode to Wilbur Morris, and the solo “Robinia Pseudoacacia” are nearly just as breathtaking. Sewn from gilded melodic thread, the former tune, one virtually guaranteed to hook itself indefinitely in the listener’s frontal lobe, carries the grand pathos of a Keith Jarrett piece, but sans the invasive mumbling and unchecked ego. Abbs and Taylor engineer ideal support and unveil a bustling battery cymbals, toms, snare and strings that reflect and accentuate the core beauty of Cooper-Moore’s central line. Ascribing the ultimate compliment in his liners, William Parker describes the latter piece as “perhaps the most perfect piece of music I have heard in my life.”

Like its tenor-bass-drums cousin, the piano trio is in no danger of lapsing into extinction. In the rights hands, of which we are fortunate there are many, it can serve as vehicle for uncovering and exploring inexhaustible territory. This is the first in a projected trilogy of AUM Fidelity releases by Triptych Myth. Strong odds suggest that the forthcoming other two entries will provide listening experiences that are equally bountiful.

~ Derek Taylor