Lynne Arriale

[Saint Vitus]

Driving home from grocery shopping, I heard on a local station a trio interpretation of "Change the World" (the Eric Clapton song from a few years ago). The tune itself wasn't much to speak of ... I'd have preferred if the trio could've found a way to swing the tune more, rather than moving at a slower pace than the original like they did. However, the sound on the piano kept me involved throughout and a few clicks on the 'Net told me it was Lynne Arriale.

Well, these things do happen but this pianist has escaped my attention while putting out 8 CDs! It appears her latest CD, Arise on Motema (??), is the one that has the Clapton tune ... but I'd like to hear some learned opinions first.

Edited June 17, 2003 by Saint Vitus

[grey]

I have all 8 of her CDs and I like them all. They are all very similiar. She has a nice relaxed style. For starters try Lynne Arriale Trio - Live At Montreux. I saw her live last year and enjoyed the show.

[A Lark Ascending]

I'm a great fan of Arriale. She played a superb concert in Sheffield (UK) a couple of years back...so good she was pulled back for another one a year later! I particularly like 'Melody' - a nice balance between standards and tunes with a folkish feel to them.

[Saint Vitus]

Thanks, gentlemen. Relaxed and folkish, huh? Sounds good. I'll certainly try a couple of her CDs.

By the way, the AMG review of Melody includes this nugget:

Melody is an appropriate title for Lynne Arrriale's fifth album as a leader, for the acoustic pianist has made a point of playing and composing honest-to-God melodies instead of simply providing lines. It's also an intriguing title coming from a post-bopper—after all, many post-boppers and hard boppers have paid a lot more attention to complex chord changes than to melody. One of Betty Carter's albums, in fact, was titled It's Not About The Melody. So you can say that the title Melody is a statement of purpose for Arriale, ... But Arriale certainly isn't one to shy away from complex chord changes—in fact, you could say that the emotional and the cerebral are equally important on this welcome addition to Arriale's catalogue. ?Alex Henderson

This review sounds good without providing any insight. The Carter proclamation is neither about improvising on the tunes with no melody nor about improvising with no regard to melody. There simply is no contrast here ... unless Arriale's playing keeps a close distance to original melodies on purpose. (If that indeed is the case, I should ask what for.)

What is "making a point of composing honest-to-God melodies instead of simply providing lines," anyway? I could think of some possible answers but, really, I thought the age of moldy figs vs. the boppers had come and gone a long time ago.

Edited June 18, 2003 by Saint Vitus

[A Lark Ascending]

I suspect that what the reviewer is getting at is Arriale's clear love of gorgeous tunes. Alot of (marvellous) jazz places 'melody' as of minor importance. The tunes on hard bop recordings in particular can often be very samey...because the tunes are not really central to the intention of the players. They're just vehicles.

Arriale clearly loves beautiful melodies. I love that rich romanticism; I'd imagine that to some tastes it might appear a bit too sentimental.

Having said that, she can do muscular and abstract too!

Edited June 19, 2003 by Bev Stapleton

[Saint Vitus]

You should revise some of these reviews. Romanticism and sentimentalism explain things so much better, especially in terms of the selection of materials to improvise on. I placed an order to get a couple of her CDs and imagine I'd get a better understanding once I listen to those.

[Bright Moments]

:wub:

[king ubu]

That's the Burghausen gig, yes?

Got that off the air (as well as a few others, thanks to dime). She's great! Alas I missed a solo appearance of hers in Zurich some months ago.

[alocispepraluger102]

"suspect that what the reviewer is getting at is Arriale's clear love of gorgeous tunes. Alot of (marvellous) jazz places 'melody' as of minor importance. The tunes on hard bop recordings in particular can often be very samey...because the tunes are not really central to the intention of the players. They're just vehicles.

Arriale clearly loves beautiful melodies. I love that rich romanticism; I'd imagine that to some tastes it might appear a bit too sentimental.

Having said that, she can do muscular and abstract too!" bev stapleton

aloc loves beautiful melodies, too.

a beautiful player and a very nice lady.

we have visited several times by email.

i heard one of her live trio gigs on the irish radio arts station several years ago.

Edited July 27, 2007 by alocispepraluger102

[Uncle Skid]

I have one recording ("A Long Road Home") that is certainly enjoyable and melodic, but most of it has never really "hit" me enough to cause repeated listenings. I should probably give it a few more spins to see if my initial impressions change at all.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Steve Davis (drums) yet... a very interesting and sometimes flamboyant player. I've seen him play live a few times (without Lynn), and was always impressed.

[Hot Ptah]

Lynne's CDs are fine, but in my opinion to really "get" Lynne you need to see her trio live. I was very impressed. She gets more intense the slower and softer she plays, which is not common. Her song selections are not traditional and are intriguing, and really work for me. She seemed to have a close musical bond with Steve Davis--they seemed to be of one mind as they played.

She was very pleasant to talk to, in the lobby after the show. She went to the University of Wisconsin for a year in the early to mid-1970s, she said. As I was there from 1974-78, I asked her which year, but she said that she could not remember. She must have had an even better time there than I had, which would be saying something!

[Spontooneous]

Another reason to hear the trio live is the creative tension between the placid piano of Arriale and the bumpier drumming of Steve Davis. It really works. The energy comes across pretty well on the live CD/DVD combo on Motema.

[king ubu]

I watched the Burghause 2005 DVD last night - wow! She is great, in my opinion! I heard a couple of live shows on the radio and always liked her doing those groovy tunes... "Iko Iko" is terrific, and her take of "Come Together" is lots of fun, too! Drummer Steve Davis indeed adds a lot! A favourite show of mine though, from Lausanne 1998, has François Moutin on bass... not that Lynne's regular bassist isn't good, but I like what Moutin adds to the trio a lot - the hit tune of that show, to me, is Blue Mitchell's "Funji Mama" - another of those groovy ones.

[marcello]

Lynne's CDs are fine, but in my opinion to really "get" Lynne you need to see her trio live. I was very impressed. She gets more intense the slower and softer she plays, which is not common. Her song selections are not traditional and are intriguing, and really work for me. She seemed to have a close musical bond with Steve Davis--they seemed to be of one mind as they played.

She was very pleasant to talk to, in the lobby after the show. She went to the University of Wisconsin for a year in the early to mid-1970s, she said. As I was there from 1974-78, I asked her which year, but she said that she could not remember. She must have had an even better time there than I had, which would be saying something!

She may not have wanted you to figure out her age. Her bassist for the last 10 years was the great Jay Anderson, who to my ears, made her trio listenable.

She's not my cup of tea. She and Steve Davis are a couple.

Jay is a complete musician.

[ghost of miles]

She used to live about 15-20 minutes away in Nashville (IN)--not sure if she's still there, though, as I think Steve Davis has a teaching gig these days down in Florida.

[Hot Ptah]

Lynne's CDs are fine, but in my opinion to really "get" Lynne you need to see her trio live. I was very impressed. She gets more intense the slower and softer she plays, which is not common. Her song selections are not traditional and are intriguing, and really work for me. She seemed to have a close musical bond with Steve Davis--they seemed to be of one mind as they played.

She was very pleasant to talk to, in the lobby after the show. She went to the University of Wisconsin for a year in the early to mid-1970s, she said. As I was there from 1974-78, I asked her which year, but she said that she could not remember. She must have had an even better time there than I had, which would be saying something!

She may not have wanted you to figure out her age. Her bassist for the last 10 years was the great Jay Anderson, who to my ears, made her trio listenable.

She's not my cup of tea. She and Steve Davis are a couple.

Jay is a complete musician.

Actually, in that conversation she told me her age. She said that she was 48, and since I was 47 then, we tried to figure out what year she was in Madison. She still couldn't place it. This all came up in a discussion about how she missed meeting Richard Davis, who came to teach in the music school at the University of Wisconsin in 1977. She knew that she had been there before 1977, because Richard Davis was not there while she was taking music classes.

I agree that Jay Anderson is an excellent bassist.