Uncommonly fresh and quietly inventive, Inward Looking Outward breathes new life into the venerable ol’ piano trio without having to step outside to achieve that. A rare achievement, to be sure.

Every song finds a different way to soothe, groove and satisfy the soul. Blades and his badassed organ trio never seem to run out of ideas.

A private, warmhearted meeting of minds – and we were allowed to listen in.

Never mind the studio setting, the highly lyrical and entrancing beauty of Fred Hersch’s piano and his empathetic rhythm section makes this another winning outing for this trio.

The future of jazz looks blindingly bright.

‘Mise En Abîme’ would be a stunning achievement for just about anybody else; for Steve Lehman, it’s just his still-evolving musical personality racing out beyond jazz’s frontiers and daring anyone to try and catch up.

‘The New Standard’ puts an edge into the oftentimes prosaic jazz trio format.

The Paul Bley who sits behind a piano in front of this live audience, with no accompaniment, is Bley in his purest form.

When we listen to the last known recordings of a music great who has passed away, is it natural to elevate the quality of the music in those recordings because nothing else from that musician will ever follow it? You May Also Like: No related posts.

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