A pianist who can come up with a fresh angle on postbop and contemporary deserves hearing. Jason Yeager does that and does it well on
Affirmation (Inner Circle 043). You get the Beatles' "Julia," a movement from Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" and a host of nice originals. It's the trio of Jason plus Danny Weller on acoustic bass and Matt Rousseau on drums. That's the very together tripartite framework, to which are added guests here and there, the trumpet and flugel of Jean Caze, Noah Preminger on tenor and Aubrey Johnson on vocals. They broaden the sound and add much to the proceedings as needed.
Jason has internalized the modern jazz tradition and gives it back in a personalized way. The flow, the harmonic sense, the lines are where you expect them, only they are not cloned from a generic source. This is Yeager piano, music in the Yeager zone.
And as you listen you get a program of nicely turned contemporary jazz that pleases without trying to make a grandstand-raising play for radio coverage. The music is the way it is no doubt out of artistic conviction and that comes through as an honest triumph of sorts. Bravo!
