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Clay Giberson: Pastures

By Dan McClenaghan
October 26, 2016
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Pianist

Clay Giberson

keyboards

" data-original-title="" title="">Clay Giberson has a fifteen year resume of fine recordings on Seattle's Origin Records label. The discs are, for the most part, solo and trio outings, with the trio sets appearing under his own name or that of his long-standing Upper Left Trio. Some examples: Spaceton's Approach, (2008), and Minga Minga (2015) as Clay Giberson; and Sell Your Soul Side, (2006), and Ulternative, (2012), with the Upper Left Trio.

With Pastures, the pianist goes the quartet mode, bringing in three New York-based all-stars and, on three tracks, a string quartet, to craft his most gregarious—and his best—outing to date.

On the pianistic extrovert/introvert scale, with,

Oscar Peterson

piano
1925 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Oscar Peterson and

Erroll Garner

piano
1921 - 1977

" data-original-title="" title="">Erroll Garner on the extrovert side, and

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans or

Marc Copland

piano
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">Marc Copland practicing a more introverted form of the art, Giberson would be ranked close to the middle, with a lean in the Evans/Copland direction. Until now. The gregarious and expansive Pastures is inspired by the Americana approach of bassist

Charlie Haden

bass, acoustic
1937 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Haden, saxophonist

Michael Brecker

saxophone, tenor
1949 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Brecker and free jazz giant Ornette Coleman, and highly inspired it is. Opening with the Giberson-penned "The Time For Now," the group—with saxophonist

Donny McCaslin

saxophone, tenor
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Donny McCaslin blowing bold out front—sounds like the team from

McCoy Tyner

piano
1938 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">McCoy Tyner's classic Infinity (Impulse! Records, 1995), on which saxophonist Brecker made one brash statement after another. With bassist

Drew Gress

bass
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Drew Gress and drummer

Matt Wilson

drums
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Matt Wilson rounding out the Pastures quartet, and with Giberson sounding particularly vivacious and daring, the music is elevated to the highest level.

"Solfeggio," written by C.P.E. Bach, explores the classical world with a jazz frame of mind, with a sunny, light-stepping delivery. On "Simple Gifts," Giberson employes a string quartet, which brings the atmosphere of the Charlie Haden/Michael Brecker outing, American Dreams (Verve Records, 2002) to mind. Here, and on "Long Ago And Far Away" (Kern/Gerhswin), the strings enhance and accent the quartet sound with subtle sweetening. On "Infinitity X," a Giberson tune—and (for these ears) the disc's highlight—the two quartets, strings and jazz, slice out a modernistic groove, with McCaslin soaring on the soprano sax before the strings wind things down in a soothing lullaby.

Pastures is Clay Giberson's highly engaging mix of his dynamic original compositions and a handful of well-chosen and distinctively rendered covers, laid down by an enlivened top-notch quartet. Scintillating sounds, from start to finish.

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Track Listing

The Time For Now; Solfeggio; Simple Gifts; Highwire; Long Ago And Far Away; Song For Ornette; Nobody Does it Better; Infinity X; Las Pasturas Del Cielo.

Personnel

Clay Giberson

keyboards

Clay Giberson: piano; Donny McCaslin: tenor saxophone, flute (2, 5), soprano saxophone (8); Drew Gress: bass; Matt Wilson: drums; Emily Cole: violin (3, 5, 8); Julie Coleman: violin (3, 5, 8); Charles Noble: viola (3, 5, 8); Trevor Fitzpatrick: cello: (3, 5, 8)

Album information

Title: Pastures | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Origin Records

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