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Gary Peacock: Tangents

By Mike Jurkovic
November 9, 2017
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Throughout his storied career, bassist/composer

Gary Peacock

bass, acoustic
1935 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Gary Peacock has gone a long way to make the bass an emotive and compelling solo instrument. Yet, when one looks back on—or better yet—listens back to the myriad of great recordings he has given us both as a sideman and leader, it is his emphatic, soul-intuitive, work within the piano trio format that makes us grateful. Think

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans's '64 Verve debut Trio64. While ruminating in '64, listen to Peacock's exemplary work on Paul Bley's Turning Point. Jump ahead several decades to Amaryllis, an extremely rewarding and breathtaking 2000 release with

Marilyn Crispell

piano
b.1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Marilyn Crispell. And of course his vibrant, defining work with

Keith Jarrett

piano
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Keith Jarrett At the Deer Head Inn, The Cure, The Out-of- Towners, Tokyo '96 ...the list goes on.)

So it comes as no surprise that Tangents, a most visceral and poetic affair, wraps around the listener and intimately places him/her in the present while pianist

Marc Copland

piano
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">Marc Copland and drummer

Joey Baron

drums
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Joey Baron lock into conversations that wind, reveal, and break free. "Contact" the fluid, Peacock-penned opener, comes to its grace slowly as the bassist and pianist feel each other out, then as Baron finds his place and piece takes flight. Baron's "Cauldron" at first appears to be searching for direction, then finds its tight focus. Copland, whose subtlety and suppleness opens to any harmonic possibility, is absolutely on his game with the elongated, free form "Empty Forest," and the restive, yet imagistic renderings of two Bill Evans' treasures "Blue On Green" and the cinematic "Spartacus." "Rumblin'" is an especially bouncy and earthy dance while the revisit of Peacock's "December Greenwings" allows ample airspace for each player to find something new. Another quiet triumph.

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Track Listing

Contact; December Greenwings; Tempei Tempo; Cauldron; Spartacus; Empty Forest; Blue in Green; Rumblin; Talkin�� Blues; In and Out; Tangents.

Personnel

Gary Peacock

bass, acoustic

Gary Peacock: double-bass; Marc Copland: piano; Joey Baron: drums.

Album information

Title: Tangents | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: ECM Records

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