By John McDonough | Published February 2022
After enjoying this brief solo recital by Venezuelan pianist Edward Simon, I asked myself a slightly catty question: Doesn’t he know any other songs? A mere five pieces in 32 minutes would have been unduly frugal in the LP days. On CD, it’s downright miserly. Meanwhile, Simon may feel flattered that the biggest letdown of Solo Live is its brevity.
Over his 40-year career he’s enjoyed productive associations with Terence Blanchard, John Patitucci and the SFJAZZ Collective, but not as a rule with the familiar songbook repertoire here or the solitude of solo piano. He handles both with an easy comfort and confidence, treating the material with more respect than surprises up his sleeve. His interpretations add elegance without flying far from song’s structural gravity. The tempos are mostly leisurely, giving Simon space to probe, play with dynamics and generally create a kind of 3 a.m. candlelit quality.
His “Lush Life” gives us the verse gilded with floral arpeggios before underpinning the chorus with a gentle ostinato for contrast and tempo. He preserves the eccentricity of “Monk’s Dream,” softening the percussiveness but hiding the simple theme in a peek-a-boo abstraction until the end. “Monk’s Mood” is more melancholy, like a ballad looking for a lyric. “Porgy” has a lyric, of course, and Simon seems to have it in mind as he lingers over the music with a reflective restraint.
Simon’s own “Country” is the anomaly of the set. It has the ceaseless severity of a march and swells in a climbing but somewhat tedious crescendo to the end. More intensity than intelligence on this one, which tends to unbalance a brief but otherwise lovely set.
Solo Live: Lush Life; Monk’s Dream; Monk’s Mood; Country; I Loves You Porgy. (32:02)
Personnel: Edward Simon, piano.
Ordering Info: ridgewayrecords.net
