Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Roberto Magris: Duo & Trio

Roberto Magris: Duo & Trio

By Jack Bowers
October 8, 2022
View read count

Italian-born pianist

Roberto Magris

piano
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Roberto Magris is a musician to whom the phrase "he could play the phone book and make it sound interesting" definitely applies—as it does to the late great Chicago-based saxophone maestro

Mark Colby

saxophone
1949 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Colby who met Magris in 2016, formed an instant bond and recorded one-half of this superlative album three years later, one year before Colby's untimely death from cancer.

Magris and Colby recorded seven tracks in a Chicago studio and planned to record more—enough to fill an album—the next time Magris was in the Windy City, a plan that was derailed by Colby's sudden illness. Wanting to release the tracks but realizing they weren't enough to fill an entire album, JMood Records' Paul Collins reached back to a 2012 trio session that also produced too little material for an entire album and blended it with the duo tracks to raise the playing time to more than an hour. Colby performs on the odd-numbered tracks, the trio on the even-numbered.

And lest it may be thought that the trio tracks were merely added as "filler," nothing could be further from the mark, as the threesome (Magris, bassist

Elisa Pruett

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Elisa Pruett, drummer

Brian Steever

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Brian Steever and—on two numbers—conguero

Pablo Sanhueza

congas

" data-original-title="" title="">Pablo Sanhueza ) is splendid on its own terms, and especially on a mellow, and all but unrecognizable, version of Ray Noble's normally lightning-quick "Cherokee." Colby plays his StanGetz-inspired tenor on five numbers, soprano on Magris' "In the Springtime of My Soul." He shines on a pair of lovely standards, "Old Folks" and "Some Other Time," and on three other Magris originals: "Cool World!," "Papa's Got a Brand New Rag" and "Blues for Herbie 'G'" (as in "Geller"), which closes the session.

The trio's five numbers were written by Noble;

Elmo Hope

piano
1923 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Elmo Hope ("Bellarosa");

Sonny Clark

piano
1931 - 1963

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Clark ("Melody for 'C'");

Andrew Hill

piano
1931 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Andrew Hill ("Samba Rasta") and Kurt Weill (the sunny "Rhyme for Angela," one of the album's many highlights). If Magris is the glue that holds the sessions together, their component parts are solid as a mahogany dining table. Colby is impressive, as always, but barely more so than the members of Magris' talented trio, whose accomplishments are at last on record, better late than never. The result is a forceful one-two punch, initiated by Magris and Colby and completed by his sure-handed trio.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Cool World! (Magris); Bellarosa (Elmo Hope); Some Other Time (Bernstein); Melody For "C" (Sonny Clark); Papa's Got A Brand New Rag (Magris); Cherokee (Noble); Old Folks (Shuman); Samba Rasta (Andrew Hill); In The Springtime Of My Soul (Magris); A Rhyme For Angela (Kurt Weill); Blues For Herbie "G" (Magris)

Personnel

Roberto Magris

piano

Mark Colby

saxophone

Elisa Pruett

bass, acoustic

Brian Steever

drums

Pablo Sanhueza

congas

Additional Instrumentation

Duo on # 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11: Mark Colby & Roberto Magris. Trio on # 2, 4, 6, 8, 10: Roberto Magris, Elisa Pruett, Brian Steever, plus Pablo Sanhueza on # 4 and 8 only.

Album information

Title: Duo & Trio | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: JMood Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Charlie��s Good Tonight: The Life, ...
< Previous

Tyshawn Sorey: I want to give listen...
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.