The lyrical side of contemporary jazz has been flourishing for some time. Keith Jarrett has something to do with that, as we know. Bill Evans, too. Chick Corea can't exactly be ignored, either. Nowadays there are scores of very good pianists out there who don't especially sound like any of the above, yet widen the path to the singing melodic-harmonic pianism that can appeal to so many yet remain musically sophisticated.
Markus Burger is one such pianist, a very good one. His group Accidental Tourists is a trio with ex-Evans vet Joe LaBarbera on bass and Bob Magnusson on drums. They've got a new, nice one out, Accidental Tourists (Challenge 73332).
The disk contains mostly Burger compositions, and they are ringing testaments to the Burger way of proceeding. The trio has that interactive thing going that no modern-day trio should be without, which means that the bass and drums have a large role to play.
At Cadence for a while Bob Rusch dubbed me the go-to guy for piano trio reviews, partly because I found it a natural thing given my interests, and I hope partly because I was steeped in the piano history-tradition and could pick up on what was going on. I cover a lot more ground in my blogs than I tended to do at Cadence, but an excellent trio such as this one warms my heart as ever. These three stack up!
This is music to live inside of and relish. These folks are good. So don't miss it if you look to supplement what you listen to with some new names.
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