Album Review: Julian Waterfall Pollack Trio- Waves of Albion

For a guy who claims to have had his fill of piano trios, I'm spending a lot of time listening to the format in 2013.  The passing of Cedar Walton served as a bittersweet excuse to dig out a few of the pianist's recordings from the Museum of Dead People located in my dusty basement.  Hearing Walton work with David Williams and Billy Higgins on the sublime Manhattan Afternoon soothed my troubled soul. 

Walton's lyrical work helped me gain an even deeper appreciation of Waves of Albion, the excellent new album by Julian Waterfall Pollack.  Pollack and his colleagues don't attempt to replicate the work of Walton, Williams and Higgins.  Instead, they work in the entirely different conception associated with Brad Mehldau and Esbjörn Svensson. 

With Waves of Albion, Pollack contributes something new to the stylish sound of the new millennium.  A sense of deep spirituality pervades the album.  Elegiac versions of "Amazing Grace" and "Shenendoah" serve as its emotional core.  Jazz pianists including Duke Ellington and Mary Lou Williams have explored sacred music.   Yet to my knowledge, Pollack is the first of the new wave of pianists to explore religious themes. 

While the title of "I Don't Believe In Love Anymore" indicates that Pollack had other things on his mind as he composed the mournful piece, I hear it as a spiritual elegy.  Even a cover of Bon Iver's "Flume" sounds like a devotional exploration.  As with the recordings of Mehldau and Svensson, the sound field of Waves of Albion places each musician on equal footing.  Bassist Noah Garabedian propels each selection with no less force than Pollack or drummer Evan Hughes. 

How sweet the sound, indeed.


---
I reviewed a concert featuring Peter Frampton, B.B. King, Sonny Landreth and Davy Knowles.

---
Pianist Marian McPartland has died.

---
Albert Murray has died.

---
Allen Lanier of Blue Oyster Cult has died.

---
"Scars" is the latest video from Krizz Kaliko.

---
Here's an EPK for Samantha Fish's Black Wind Howlin' album.

---
I've only listened to Earl Sweatshirt's Doris twice.  It's going to take time to decide if the dense album is a classic, a disjointed mess or merely an interesting experiment.  RIYL: Bob Dylan, OFWGKTA, The Chronic.

---
Derrick Hodges' disappointing Live Today sounds more like a resume than a proper album.  RIYL: Robert Glasper, Stevie Wonder, Stanley Clarke. 

---
King Krule's "Easy Easy" picks up where the Jam and the Arctic Monkeys left off.  (Tip via S.S.)

---
Jashwha Moses' fine roots-rock-reggae album No War On Earth is RIYL: Burning Spear, Black Uhuru, Augustus Pablo.

---
Diarrhea Planet's I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams is a shockingly great.  RIYL: Green Day, Tame Impala, Fidlar.

---
My friend at The Daily Record turned me on to Terrace Martin's 3ChordFold. Guests include Kendrick Lamar, Robert Glasper and Snoop Dogg.  The lush production is recommended to fans of those artists.

---
Gosh!  Bakersfield, the 2013 album by Vince Gill and Paul Franklin, contains worlds of fun.  RIYL: Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Chris Hillman.

---
Volto!'s Incitare is a solid jazz fusion album.  RIYL: Tool, instrument shops, Billy Cobham.

---
A recent interview with Orrin Keepnews about the early days of Riverside Records is pretty great.

---
Minimal research alert. Good Vibrations appears to be a movie about the Undertones, the troubles in Ireland and a music retailer.

---
What a huge week for exciting new releases!  The list includes A$AP Ferg, Belle & Sebastian, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, Stefano Bollani and Hamilton de Holanda, Crocodiles, Devildriver, Diarrhea Planet, Bob Dylan's Another Self Portrait (1969-1971): The Bootleg Series Vol. 10, Earl Sweatshirt's Doris, Tim Easton, Robbie Fulks, Philip Glass, the Greencards, Juicy J, Krizz Kaliko's Son of Sam, King Krule, Black Joe Lewis, No Age, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Ty Segall and Superchunk.

---
Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)