Andrés Vial
‘Sphereology
Volume One’
Chromatic-Audio
The
opening track of Montreal-based pianist Andrés Vial’s
“Sphereology
Volume One” may cause jazz listeners to do an aural double take. “Bluehawk”
strongly recalls pianist Ahmad Jamal’s recordings of the late-1960’s, but in
this case Vial’s piano is matched by Peter Bernstein’s guitar. Like Jamal, Vial
and Bernstein nicely exploit the spaces between the notes. The spare approach
works well because “Sphereology” explores of the
music of Thelonious Monk, whose compositions are so brilliant, they need
no embellishment to shine.
Vial
covers some of Monk’s most famous songs (“Think of One,” “Green Chimneys,” and
“Ask Me Now”) but he also includes less familiar tunes like “Work” and “Coming
on the Hudson.” While bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Rodney Green bolster
the first six tracks, bassist Martin Heslop and drummer André White take up the
rhythm on the final three.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2019.
