A mix of lyrical, free and traditional compositions, the majority from leader, New York bassist Sean Conly, along with pieces from long-time collaborator Michael Attias, Sam Rivers and Paul Motian, performed in the piano trio format with drummer Francisco Mela and pianist Leo Genovese, a great balance of jazz steeped in tradition but living fully in the present.
Label: 577 Records Catalog ID: LP-577R-5871 Squidco Product Code: 30491
Format: LP Condition: New Released: 2021 Country: USA Packaging: LP Recorded at Trading Eights Studio. in Paramus, New Jersey, on October 7th, 2020, by Chris Sulit.
"Exploring the iconic trio format, Sean Conly (Bass), Francisco Mela (Drums) and Leo Genovese (Piano) mix composition and improvised music into a shared language. Inspired by both contemporary and traditional musical arrangements, the musicians' distinct inclinations blend together in playful form, delivered in an easy dialogue between the musicians.
The Buzz's 10 tracks are gentle and warm, displaying the comfort that the artists have with each other, and lending the album a similarly inviting aura throughout. This marks Sean Conly and Leo Genovese's debuts on 577 Records, respectively, and will be Francisco Mela's third album on 577 Records, following MPT Trio (2021) and Music Frees Our Souls, Vol. 1 (2021)."-577 Records
"I usually play an album from front to back at least once before writing anything, naturally, but as I had just finished a review of Genovese's Ritmos de Agua, I chose to play this one from back to front and was astonished at the decorum of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in The Clowns", the final track on the album. I then realised that it acted as a bowing out from a performance that was all dignified and sedate. Much of that propriety is due not only to the piano/pianist, but also to the amalgamation of the three musicians' individual inclinations in both classic and contemporary jazz styles.
Pianist Genovese is well recognised for his collaborations with many musicians of repute including, for example, Jack DeJohnette and the Wayne Shorter Group, as well as for his discography.
Bass player Sean Conly is a familiar spirit with much of the World's music and this lends both contrivance and inventiveness to his performance. He is both player and composer and as he works with both, it is expected that he will, in both fields of endeavour, attempt to meld the old and the new approaches to song, sound, synchronisation and tempo into one, complete and inventive utterance.
Drummer Francisco Mela has been top choice for many of the leading musicians in jazz, among them Kenny Barron, Gary Bartz, Joe Lovano, John Scofield, McCoy Tyner and Bobby Watson. Studies at Berklee College of Music led to his teaching there, and developing his career on the Boston scene led to his working on putting together the traditional sounds he grew up with in Cuba with the newer sounds of modern jazz. Contact through Berklee brought him to Lovano and this was followed by McCoy Tyner's hearing him play with Lovano and employing him from 2009.
Although all tunes really are compositions, they exhibit elements of a collective morphology, redolent of the languages which develop from free jazz improvisations. The sounds of these compositions are warm and sincere, echoing, I think, the ease that these musicians have in each other's company. Another piano trio that's not just another icon."-Ken Cheetham, Jazz Views