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Tom Pierson: Last Works
By"Abandoned" opens the first CD with a doom-laden bass undercurrent that recalls the familiar motif of the song "Fever" made famous by

Peggy Lee
vocals1920 - 2002

George Russell
composer / conductor1923 - 2009
The second set kicks off with the exuberant "Elipsis" and a gradually ascending ensemble crescendo, a slower breakdown and a resumption of the earlier exuberance. The aptly named "Sultry" rather sinisterly simmers and smokes throughout its seven minutes duration before ceding to the longest track on the album, the cryptically titled "45/8." Special mention should go here to bassist Kanoa Mendenhall, who provides a staggering tour de force of an underlying bass line. "In God's Name" features a delightful and all-too-short piano solo from Pierson. "Two Becoming 3," the penultimate track, is another long-ish piece at nearly fifteen minutes and is multi-faceted in its content and structure, finally resolving in an explosion of horns and drums.
The title of this truly excellent big band album is odd, but takes its name from the fact that these are, according to Pierson, the last compositions for jazz orchestra he will record. But there's an extra poignancy enveloped in it since this was sadly also the last recording undertaken by renowned trumpeter

Lew Soloff
trumpet1944 - 2015
Track Listing
CD1 (1st Set): Abandoned; Chandra Lowery’s Samba; By The Martyr’s Decree; Times Remembered; Winter’s End; Dark Story; The Pharaoh’s Serpent. CD2 (2nd Set): Elipsis; Sultry; 45/8; In God’s Name; Two Becoming 3; Among Strangers.
Personnel
“Blue” Lou Marini: saxophone; Mark Vinci: saxophone; Shu Enomoto: saxophone; Neil Johnson: saxophone; Michael Lutzeier: saxophone, woodwinds; Dominic Derasse: trumpet; Mike Ponella: trumpet; Tim Leopold: trumpet; Lew Soloff: trumpet; Ben Herrington: trombone; Robinson Khoury: trombone; Dan Levine: trombone; Jeff Nelson: trombone; Tom Pierson: piano; Kanoa Mendenhall: electric bass; Pheeroan Aklaff: drums.
Album information
Title: Last Works | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Auteur
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