Showing posts with label Matt Herskowitz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matt Herskowitz. Show all posts

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Matt Herskowitz - Mirror Image

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:31
Size: 132,4 MB
Art: Front

( 5:55) 1. Tribute to John Coates
( 8:31) 2. Gnossienne: No.1/ Moment Musical No.3 in F-Minor
( 5:38) 3. Song for Katya
( 4:15) 4. Ballade
(11:30) 5. Piano Concerto in G: Adagio Assai
( 3:20) 6. Mirror Image
( 4:17) 7. Rêve cinématique
( 7:08) 8. The Last Hope
( 1:25) 9. Last Impressions
( 5:28) 10. My One and Only Love

To play jazz on the piano, a musician must at some point come to terms with the weight of the instrument’s history. The modern drum kit started to come together in the 1920s; the electric guitar, which, unlike its classical forebears, would be played through an amplifier, primarily with a plectrum, would not be manufactured until the 1930s. But the piano so central to the sound of mainstream jazz predates the genre by over 200 years.

On the solo album Mirror Image, released on Montreal’s Justin Time Records, the accomplished pianist Matt Herskowitz demonstrates his command of both the jazz and classical traditions through a mixture of original pieces, compositions by the likes of Ravel, Satie and Schubert, and a jazz standard. The fusion of jazz and classical has its own rich history; third stream music has enjoyed a degree of popularity since the 1960s. This synthesis is used to great effect by Herskowitz, not as a way to showcase two separate skill sets, but as a framework with which to display an intelligent, well-developed, honest approach to music making that honours the pianist’s personal experiences on the instrument. Highlights include bluesy, gospel-tinged flourishes on Gottschalk’s The Last Hope, the percussive title track Mirror Image, and My One And Only Love, which closes the album. Herskowitz’s truest success, however, is the thread with which he so effectively and confidently connects the album’s many elements into a sensible whole.~ Colin Story https://www.thewholenote.com/index.php/booksrecords2/jazzaimprovised/29485-mirror-image-matt-herskowitz

Mirror Image

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Matt Herskowitz - Upstairs

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:10
Size: 161,3 MB
Art: Front

(13:36) 1. Dzienkuye
( 7:04) 2. Waltz In Moscow
( 9:02) 3. Cantabile
( 5:27) 4. Träumerei
(12:22) 5. Bella's Lament
( 3:25) 6. Bach à la Jazz
(10:55) 7. But Not For Me
( 8:15) 8. I've Got Rhythm

This CD was recorded before an audience at the Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill in Montreal where Matt Herskowitz has made his home since 2000 and the first thing that struck me was the phenomenal technique possessed by this Albany-born pianist. The varied program begins with a long over 13 minutes interpretation of the Dave Brubeck composition, Dziekuje which means “thank you” in Polish, and was modelled on Chopin’s Prelude in E Minor. He also includes Cantabile by Michel Petrucciani, Traumerei by Robert Schumann, music by J.S. Bach, two originals, Waltz In Moscow and Bella’s Lament plus a couple of Gershwin songs for good measure But Not For Me and I’ve Got Rhythm.

Herskowitz’ classical training permeates the music, sometimes at the expense of “jazz feeling” but then there are also passages of delicate beauty as shown in Bella’s Lament and Traumerei. To make a comparison between visual art and music, Herskowitz is like, say, a Dali rather than a Mondrian.I have a non-musical complaint on behalf of all of us with less than perfect eyesight. The liner notes are in deep blue against a black background, making them all but impossible to read. I, and a few others I have spoken with, find it extremely frustrating. Designers of CD sleeves please take note.~ Jim Galloway https://www.thewholenote.com/index.php/booksrecords2/jazzaimprovised/23553-upstairs-matt-herskowitz

Upstairs