CRITICS’ CHOICE; New CDs: John Escreet
By NATE CHINEN
Published: December 1, 2008
JOHN ESCREET
”Consequences”
(Posi-Tone)
John Escreet, a British jazz pianist in his mid-20s, has no problem communicating drama. ”Consequences,” his highly accomplished debut, opens with a half-hour composition — ”The Suite of Consequence” — that divides almost imperceptibly into three parts. The piece at large is a whorl of high-impact quintet engagement, combustible solo digressions, calmly contemplative passages and flashes of mounting suspense. A lot happens there, and each moment carries its own sharp glint of conviction.
Mr. Escreet has been based in New York for the last two years, earning a master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music and studying with two generations of pianistic modernists, Kenny Barron and Jason Moran. He has also plugged into an active network of open-minded composer-improvisers, some of whom appear here. The John Escreet Project, as he calls his superb band, features David Binney on alto saxophone, Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Matt Brewer on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. (The group is scheduled to appear at the Jazz Gallery in the South Village on Jan. 22; see johnescreet.com for details.)
As an instrumentalist Mr. Escreet has both his ruminative and expansive sides, drawing no clear distinction between them. He takes a moment to affirm his contemporary bona fides with ”Dilemma,” employing Fender Rhodes electric piano and a shadowy, irregular pulse. But his best playing comes in radiant bursts, in the opening suite and on a tune titled ”Wayne’s World,” presumably after the saxophonist Wayne Shorter.
The album ends with an allusion to another obvious yet unobtrusive influence, the pianist and composer Andrew Hill. By including one of Mr. Hill’s early ballads, ”No Doubt,” Mr. Escreet establishes a lineage while also making a claim. By playing it unaccompanied, he imbues his reading with the kind of dramatic tension that feels convincingly personal. NATE CHINEN