Jazz Times
May 2000
Pianist Weiskopf's debut as a leader is a determined, well-guided trio effort with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Billy Drummond. Younger brother of tenor saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, the pianist displays a committed attack and touch, and an impressionistic sense of harmony reminiscent of Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. The group opens with Wayne Shorter's "Edda," a bright waltz on which the strength and style of the leader's playing suggest McCoy Tyner.
The album's three Weiskopf originals reveal a sophisticated harmonic sensitivity. "Song for the Lost" is a pretty tune and Washington's warm, woody tone and percussive articulation recall Charlie Haden. "One for Karl" begins with a Drummond solo and follows with springy piano runs and rhythms. The title track begins darkly but evolves into a more playful mood as its fast tempo coalesces. Weiskopf completes the album with a solo performance of "My One and Only Love," a fine capper from a pianist with a clear sense of direction and meaningful notes.
-Owen Cordle
Cadence
April 2000
1) Brad Mehldau, Art of the Trio 4 - Back at the Vanguard, Warner Bros 47463.
2) Joel Weiskopf, The Search, Criss Cross 1174.
Brad Mehldau (1) is a young pianist whose burgeoning reputation preceded his first visit to my CD player. For once, the press clippings weren't inflated; Mehldau's a player. His prolific imagination seems never to rest, nor do his unerring fingers. "Another Bill Evans Trio," some have said of his group - which makes Mehldau cringe. "... a thorn in my side," he writes of such comparisons, which he labels a "false appraisal" and says has more to do with "the piano trio as a sensitive-white-guys club" than it does with musical content. Mehldau says he heard Evans only breifly, when he was a teen-ager, and while he admires Evans, he wasn't markedly influenced by him. The evidence seems to confirm Mehldau's assertion. If one is inclined to perceive echoes of Evans' trio in Mehldau's, it could be because contemporary Jazz's core vocabulary (bop and beyond) was set in place more than half a century ago, hasn't been altered appreciably since then (except by those who've forsaken chord changes) and some of its often-used words or phrases are unavoidably restated in almost every context including the piano trio. Mehldau has certainly embraced some of Evans' expressions, but more as a part of the vast lexicon of modern Jazz than as a cardinal element of his pianistic style - and no more than any other post-bop pianist would. Having laid the "Mehldau-Evans" comparison aside (at least for now), what one hears is a talented modern Jazz pianist with wicked chops and plenty to say, backed by sidemen who know how to help him express his provocative thoughts and emotions.
Mehldau's able-bodied trio was recorded in concert at New York's Village Vanguard. They open with a marvelous not-in-your-usual-tempo rendition of Jerome Kern's "All the Things You Are" before skating rhapsodically through a couple of Mehldau's engaging originals, "Sehnsucht" and "Nice Pass." Meldau also wrote "London Blues," which follows Miles Davis' "Solar" and preceded the Irv Kahal / Sammy Fain standard, "I'll Be Seeing You." The trio wraps things up with the uncredited "Exit Music (for a Film)," whose meditative introductory passage is about as close to Evans as the trio advances (oops; sorry, Brad). In all other circumstances, Mehldau and his trio speak with their own voice, and a clear and convincing one it is. He's no Bill Evans, and that's okay with me.
Joel Weiskopf leads another splendid piano trio on (2), a studio session that's as rewarding in its way as Mehldau's concert date. Like Mehldau, Weiskopf has an enterprising nature, gracefully nuanced touch and excellent brain/hand coordination; and like Mehldau, he has chosen a number of tasteful songs to play including three of his own, one each by Wayne Shorter ("Edda"), Thelonious Monk ("Criss Cross") and Jerry Bergonzi ("Red's Blues"), Gershwin's "Bess, You Is My Woman Now," Burke/Van Heusen's "It Could Happen to You" and the entrancing ballad "My One and Only Love." Weiskopf's approach, like Meldau's, is securely implanted in the tradition but moderately off-center, enough to keep one eager to know what lies around the next bend (compare, for example, his atypical treatment of "It Could Happen to You" with Meldau's "All the Things You Are"). Unlike Meldau, the 37-year-old Weiskopf does count Bill Evans among his influences alongside such masters as McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, Ahmad Jamal and Erroll Garner. While one can hear flashes of each in his post-bop improvisations, none of them overshadows Weiskopf's own phraseology, which is consistently strong and expressive. When a rhythm section is needed, Criss Cross Records has a number of world-class duos standing by, and this is one of the best, with the rock-steady Washington keeping flawless time and the ever-dependable Drummond making sure nothing slips through the cracks. They're twin towers of strength on every number, and especially formidable on "It Could Happen" and the easy-walking "Red's Blues." Weiskopf shows his mettle through-out, giving the listener another exceptional piano-trio album to consider. If forced to choose between his and Meldau's, I'd have to rule the contest a draw and ask that they play at least one overtime period.
