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Carol Liebowitz | Andy Fite | Time On My Hands | NA1029

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I’m not sure what most senior citizens would make of Carol Liebowitz’s renditions of the music of their lives. Liebowitz, with musical partner Andy Fite on guitar, takes this clutch of standards and twists and winds them into new shapes. What distinguishes her approach is her reverence for the words of the songs and high handedness with everything else. From the first chorus she bends the lyrics through her sweeping, melismatic improvisations. The impression is that Liebowitz is improvising the lyrics. This gives the poetry an urgent edge. I found myself hearing the lyrics afresh.“Love Me or Leave Me” is emotionally wrenching in a way I’ve never heard it. —David Dupont, Cadence Continue reading →

Andy Fite | Solo Guitar | Whirlwind | NA1022

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Andy Fite is a jazz guitarist, singer, and songwriter living in Stockholm, Sweden since 1994. Before that he lived in New York City for ten years. Already in his hometown of Pittsburgh Andy had the good luck to perform with most of the top local musicians, as well as with such illustrious visitors as Kenny Clarke, Billy Eckstine, Attila Zoller, Bucky Pizzarelli and Tal Farlow. Not to mention the Inkspots, the Four Aces, the Lettermen and Pia Zadora. Arriving in New York in the mid-1980s, Andy began an intensive study of improvisation with pianist Connie Crothers, and very soon the insights he gained there led to a great breakthrough and an original style. Soon he was playing regularly with a number of close friends of the late pianist Lennie Tristano, a big hero and great source of inspiration in Andy’s music. Continue reading →

Richard Tabnik Quartet | Life at the Core | NA1016

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The songs on this album are not tunes which you are likely to start singing in the shower. More likely you will be stuck contemplating what it is about these songs that is so engaging. The elements presented could easily be a standard jazz recording session, but as soon as the first notes well-up you are immediately informed that you are in for a wild ride. The strumming and linear stylings of guitarist Andy Fite combined with the driving rhythm provided by bassist Calvin Hill and drummer-extraordinaire Roger Mancuso provide the perfect background for Tabnik’s lightening-fast improvisations. Tabnik reaches into this foundation to pull interesting and tasty pieces out which he uses to shape and create his solos out of. This is especially apparent in the two takes of Tabnik’s tune “Timescapes” (cuts 6 and 7). Listen for the interplay between Fite and Tabnik as they wind through the changes. Richard Tabnik is someone that you should definately check out. This is an artist who is not afraid to be himself. — Review (c)1996 Jason DuMars Continue reading →

Liz Gorrill | Solo Piano | For the Beauty of the Earth | NA1030

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After a stark, brooding deconstruction of Irving Berlin’s “How Deep Is The Ocean,” Liz Gorrill goes on to createa startling solo piano record that explores territoryhovering somewhere between Paul Bley and Ran Blake. Certainly there’s a classical touch and strong feel offormal rigor about her playing that ranges from the Satie-like repetitions of “Secrets Start Singing” to thefugue-like romp of “Two Hands Made Of Sun,” a startling performance that made me smile as it conjuredup a further point of reference: Lennie Tristano. From impressionist miniatures like “Shaken Out In Thunder”and “The Stormy Wind” to sustained meditations like“Gardens Dying, Blossoming,” Gorrill explores anadventurous program that is simply exquisite. — David Lewis, Cadence, January 1999 Continue reading →

Liz Gorrill | Dreamflight | NA1010

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The final “Dream Sequence” begins with a piece entitled “Blues From A Subterranean Galaxy,” which, without a hint of Sun Ra’s leavening humour, should give a sense of what’s going on here: just imagine space converted to mass. What is remarkable, however, is what Gorrill achieves by the end of the sequence. The final “Deep Awakening,” along with numerous other moments in the performance, has such kinetic energy that it levetates not only itself but the burdens of history, particularly piano history, that Gorrill so willingly assumes elsewhere. — Stuart Broomer, Coda, May/June 1993 Continue reading →

Liz Gorrill | Charley Krachy | A Jazz Duet | NA1007

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The two instrumental voices merge satisfyingly on “317 East 32nd Street” where Gorrill offers not only a bass line, but also apt commentary for the saxophonist in cleverly obscured “Out Of Nowhere” territory. Most of the structures are familiar, but they merely serve as secure foundations for daring improvisation. Dynamics are important in such intimate music, and Liz Gorrill’s variety of touch becomes an essentialingredient in ensuring that the performances move through many layers and engender subtle shifts of mood. With all its complexity, the music maintains a momenturm and inner logic that is a tribute to the participants. “How High The Moon,” that perennial jazz racer, has its character reversed by a slow, reflective treatment in which no pet licks are used to escape hatches. A most stimulating set, at its best, perhaps, when the duo swings unselfconciously and with considerable exhilaration on “My Melancholy Baby.” — Jazz Journal, July 1991, Mark Gardner Continue reading →