An Israeli-born pianist steeped in classical and post-bop traditions,
Shai Maestro has worked with a bevy of progressive artists, including bassist
Avishai Cohen, guitarist/singer
Camila Meza, and vocalist
Theo Bleckmann. He has also garnered attention for his own delicately textured trio albums, including his eponymous 2012 debut and 2018 ECM album
The Dream Thief.
Maestro further expands this approach on his sophomore ECM outing, 2021's
Human. Once again joining
Maestro are his globally-minded trio bandmates Peruvian bassist
Jorge Roeder and Israeli drummer
Ofri Nehemya. Also coming on board here is Miluwakee-born trumpeter
Philip Dizack. The 2005 winner of the Carmine Caruso International Trumpet Competition and a semi-finalist of the 2007 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition,
Dizack is an immensely adept improvisor with a style that straddles the line between the fluid impressionism of
Miles Davis and avant-garde motifs of
Kenny Wheeler. Together, they play a deeply atmospheric brand of jazz well-suited to the ECM style. Some tracks, like "GG" and "They Went to War" are languid, far-eyed ballads evoking the painterly work of artists like
Keith Jarrett and
Paul Bley. Others are more lively, and tracks like the gently rambling "Mystery and Illusions" and dancerly "The Thief's Dream" display
Maestro's knack for briskly adventurous improvisation. We also get a dazzlingly buoyant take on
Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" in which
Maestro transforms the usually languorous ballad into a kinetic burst of pointillist group interplay. There are also a handful of gorgeous and dusky cuts without
Dizack, including the dreamy "Compassion" and warmly-delivered ballad "Hank and Charlie" that further illuminate
Maestro's harmonically nuanced skills. ~ Matt Collar