Jump to content

The BEST piano trio album of the year


sal

Recommended Posts

It has been a particularly strong year for piano trio albums. Several new releases on MaxJazz by Denny Zietlin, Mulgrew Miller, and Jessica Williams, as well as Frank Kimbrough's "LULLABLUEBYE" and the new Keith Jarrett disc come to mind, as do several others. But nothing can prepare you for this new one by Danilo Perez.

It will only availiable through his website www.daniloperez.com, and I don't even think its for sale yet, though it should be sometime before the end of this month according to the site. It features his trio with Ben Street and Adam Cruz, and was recorded here in Chicago at the Jazz Showcase last year. I was able to get an advance copy of the album during the trio's stretch at the Showcase last month. I'm telling you, this is one of those discs that will just leave you floored. This is the new breed of the jazz piano trio. Their playing is mindblowing. I have not heard any modern piano trio play on this level....not even Jason Moran's. Danilo has obviously learned alot from and been influenced by his time with Wayne Shorter. He's really starting to break through into a whole new thing. His band is amazing. Adam Cruz is one of the best drummers I've ever heard in my life. In terms of technique, musicality, and rhythmic variation, I don't think there's many who can hang with him. And Ben Street is one of the more original bass stylists around. The way these guys play is so hard to describe...it sounds like they are all playing completely different things, but it all fits together like a strange puzzle. It is really exciting stuff.

Any fans of Danilo and piano trios in general cannot be without this one.

Edited by sal
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well you got me fired-up over that Live at the Jazz Showcase recording, but when I when to www.daniloperez.com, the site seems a bit out of date. Just says available on-line 2nd week of November. Am I missing something or is Mr. Perez just behind schedule? Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I can't believe that....what a disgrace. I paid $15 for it at the Jazz Showcase release party. It almost sounds like a mistake...

In any event, its a damn shame, because people should really be hearing this music, and now most likely won't because of the price.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I sent an e-mail to Danilo bitching re: the $35 price.

Will see if I get an answer.

Perhaps if we all e-mailed him, and not all of us bitching -- but simply asking if the recording was available for a more reasonable price. $35 is pretty painful for just one CD. Hell, that's painful for a double CD even.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I sent an e-mail to Danilo bitching re: the $35 price.

Will see if I get an answer.

Perhaps if we all e-mailed him, and not all of us bitching -- but simply asking if the recording was available for a more reasonable price. $35 is pretty painful for just one CD. Hell, that's painful for a double CD even.

I didn't really bitch.

I simply pointed out that there should be a lower price point.

Compared it to the way Maria Schneider handled the marketing of her CD through the same source.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have got to be kidding...let's see, I can go buy timeless masterpieces by Bud Powell, Art Tatum, Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, and others for less than HALF of what it would cost me to buy Mr. Perez' new disc? Not to mention that I can buy a Mosaic Select - 3 CDs of some other timeless jazz - for $39...well I'm sure this one is worthy of a listen, but it definitely isn't worth $35 to me. That's insane. I'm all for supporting artists but...

Reading David's post it starts to make a LITTLE more sense but I still have to really question the wisdom of that type of marketing approach. How many people are going to be willing to plump down $35 for one album they can hear now, a second they haven't heard yet, and an artist's newsletter? I guess maybe some but it seems like jazz is foundering enough saleswise even with traditional CD pricing, why would this help?

Edited by DrJ
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The many different levels of "participation" is one of ArtistShares ways to make the expierience of buying music from them special.

I , for one, don't see how much real money they generate for their artists this way. Many artists are watching and waiting.

The start up fee is quite expensive for the services that they offer to the artist such as this and other packages that they put together and the web site.

Futhermore, the whole idea of downloading the recording in a MP3 file, if you choose so, is not for me, at least!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought Maria Schneider's "Concert in the Garden" at the lowest "participation" level for $16 or $17 bucks. Not cheap. but not out of line. I sent an email to Danilo Perez stating that I thought his pricing was bound to alienate his fans. Look's like it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Best?" That's hard to say. I'd have to dissent and say the Great Jazz Trio (on 88s), with Hank and Elvin Jones and Richard Davis deserves to be considere for that honor.

I have this album, and you are right, Brad, it is a very fine release. I particularly enjoyed their interpretations of the Ellington stuff. But what Danilo Perez is doing....it's cutting edge. Danilo's trio is breaking new ground. And when you can hear someone breaking new ground, to me, jazz doesn't get any more exciting than that. As many great piano trio releases as there were in 2004, I don't think any were as advanced as "Live at the Jazz Showcase".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agreed that $35 is cost prohibitive for a single CD; although I agree that Danilo Perez is an amazing artist. I have seen him live many times, most recently at the Litchfield Jazz Festival two years ago. Also caught him live with Wayne Shorter earlier that year at the New Orleans JazzFest. Simply an amazing artist.

ArtistShare must price their diferent artist-backed releases depending upon the investment that they need to recoup. The example of Maria Schneider was already cited. My wife bought me the Jim Hall "Magic Meeting" Live at the Village Vanguard for my birthday in late December for $ 23.90 postage included. Much to my surprise, Jim Hall even autographed the CD!

A little expensive, but a great listen.

Not sure the reason for the pricing disparity. Does not bode well as it seems that more and more artists are going this route. According to Chris Potter's website, he is linked to ArtistShare as well.

Oh well!

LWayne <_<

Edited by LWayne
Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to Danilo's website, this disc is now available for $24.95. Included in the package in the form of downloads - one live track, a welcome letter and lead sheet to a tune. I'm not interested in anything but the disc --- so this price is still prohibitive to me, regardless of the quality of the music. I sent an e-mail to both Danilo's management and artistShare stating this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

i was just doing a google search for "danilo perez artistshare" and came across your thread. i don't know if anyone's still discussing this subject, but i thought i'd throw in my two cents.

i'm a pianist/composer who is also another artistshare affiliated musician. because artistshare is so new, it's going to take time- especially for someone like myself, who doesn't have the name recognition of maria schneider or danilo perez- to see the end results. i have had two recordings out under two different labels. in each of these situations, i paid for the majority of the recording expenses- and the publicity expenses- myself. i never recuped what i spent on the projects (and i didn't spend nearly as much money as someone like maria did, who has to pay a group of 17 musicians, rather than just a trio or quartet). i also didn't retain the rights to my masters, which unfortunately happens to many of us jazzers who just want to get our product out there.

maria has made it known that this is the first time that she's ever been able to make money from one of her recordings. i think that's amazing. maria is the one who got me interested in artistshare in the first place. the fact that i am able to document my creative process and share it with fans is a great asset to me.

and even if you don't want anything beyond the cd (by the way, at my deannajazz.com site, the main "studio level" is $19.95 and includes lead sheets and live performances in addition to the cd), the fact that the individual artist is making their creative process to you is amazing in and of itself. believe me, it takes a lot of time to set up the artistshare sites (both on the tech end from the artistshare folks and on the artist end in terms of constantly updating the site with content). the artist is making a commitment to you as the individual fan, just as much as you're making a contribution to the artist.

i hope that all of you will be rooting this weekend for maria schneider to win at least one of the grammys that she's been nominated for! and my fellow quartetmate, saxophonist donny mccaslin, has also been nominated for a grammy for "best instrumental jazz solo" for one of his solos on maria's artistshare cd.

i hope you'll visit my site and welcome your feedback.

all the best,

deanna witkowski

http://deannajazz.com

http://deannawitkowski.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I usually save the $35 and more level for japanese imports/hard-to-find jazz recordings. However, if I know the musician is getting most or all of the profit, I might spring fo a CD by a musician such as Danilo every once in a while. I just purchased a Harold Mabern Japanese import for about $35. I wanted something recent of Mabern's and I know most of his recent recorded output is on the Japanese Venus label - verrrrrry expensive, but a lot of the musicians I love are on that label and I'll continue to buy when I have the extra $.

Marla

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...