Featured Artist: Miki Kono
CD Title: Are
you married...
Year: 2001
Record Label: Miki
Records/Satellites Records
Style: Straight-Ahead /
Classic
Musicians: Miki Kono (piano), Rufus Reid
(bass), Carl Allen (drums), Hiromi Masuda (alto sax)
Review: Miki Kono begins
to charm you before you've even begun to listen to this CD. The cover photo of
her seated at her piano and smiling back at the camera warmly can't help but
catch your eye, and the artist's liner notes reveal a mildly self-deprecating
humor that is very engaging. When you put the CD in the player, it just gets
better.
The CD consists mainly of original compositions, mostly
ballads and mostly very pretty. The music is captivating from the very first
track, a trio rendition of the title song featuring some very tasty Monk-like
phrasing from bandleader/composer Miki Kono and some fine playing by the
venerable bassist Rufus Reid. The song reappears later in a slightly faster
quartet version that finds Kono exchanging its phrases with saxophonist Hiromi
Masuda.
Kono chose an interesting trio of standards to cover, from
J.J. Johnson's "Lament, to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" to Bach's "Air on the
G-string." Though, in theory, this represents a spectrum from pure jazz to pure
classical, the trio of Kono, Reid and drummer Carl Allen reveal the jazz
implications of all three compositions. On "Air on the G-String," Kono's
playing finds the beauty of Bach's melody in her statement of the theme before
the group engages on a really swinging improvisation. The Gershwin piece is
very cleverly arranged, Kono introducing it traditionally with her impeccable
solo playing, before taking it through a scherzo segment and closing it at a
samba rhythm.
This album is a winner, melodically rich and thoroughly
engaging. That Kono is classically trained is evidenced not only by her choice
of songs, but also by the elegance and precision of her playing. That she is
well versed in jazz as well is everywhere apparent on this
recording.
Record Label Website: http://www.satellitesrecords.com
Reviewed by: Edward Kane
