by S. Victor Aaron
Last month, percussionist Sameer Gupta presented a CD that was one of the more creative fusions of East Indian and jazz music ever attempted. His keyboardist Marc Cary played a key role in that endeavor but the productive partnership extends to Cary’s own records, too. Live 2009 archives four performances over three days in July in three different countries. Whether it’s bop standards like”Round Midnight” and Jackie McLean’s “Minor March,” or original salutes to civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Malcolm X (“Slow Blues For MLK,” “Runnin’ Out Of Time”), Cary, Gupta and bassist David Ewell run through a strong set of songs that’s rooted heavily in the bop tradition, but subtly integrates strokes of south Asian, eastern Asian, African, electric fusion and even Native American music into the program. Well recorded and well performed, Focus Trio Live 2009 documents a jazz piano trio that’s about a half a world apart from other piano jazz trios.
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