"Angular, Cerebral, Impressionist and Very Deconstructionist; Full of Intriguing Twists and Turns... This CD Was Worth the Wait; Wolff Really Turns the Songs Inside Out Both Melodically and Harmonically"
Additional Spring Tour Dates Confirmed
JAZZIZ MAGAZINE
Michael Wolff Trio - jazz, JAZZ, jazz
Pianist Michael Wolff is something of a musical chameleon, playing everything from vocal pop to worldbeat over the course of his career. So you can excuse him if the title of his latest disc comes on a little strong. Fortunately, the performances more than live up to the name. It's not just the slow pace of 'Autumn Leaves' that heightens the song's sense of longing. It's also the wide-open spaces between his phrases, allowing bassist John B. Williams and drummer Victor Jones to fill in the gaps. Elsewhere, as on Dizzy Gillespie's 'Con Alma,' Wolff's clever sense of harmony leads to some unexpected but wholly welcomed chord changes. His solos are generally fluid and graceful, although he changes pace with dissonant clusters that make use of the entire keyboard. The trio as a whole knows how to goad each other at the right moments. Midway through Herbie Hancock's 'Dolphin Dance,' Williams' bass lines become more forceful and Jones gets more aggressive on the snare, while Wolff runs through fractured lines that amp up the intensity before the group settles back into a relaxed groove. Wolff recorded this disc in 2001, but it's just now seeing the light of day. It was worth the wait. --John Frederick Moore, Jazziz Magazine
Michael Wolff has been heard in a variety of musical settings along the way; on the appropriately titled Jazz, Jazz, Jazz, he leads an acoustic piano trio that keeps things decidedly straight-ahead. Most of the songs on this 2001 session are warhorses that have been recorded countless times over the years; that is true of “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" and “Autumn Leaves" as well as Miles Davis' “Solar," Dizzy Gillespie's “Con Alma," and Herbie Hancock's “Dolphin Dance." Wolff even performs “My Funny Valentine," a standard so beaten to death that it inspired the following joke: how many jazz singers does it take to sing “My Funny Valentine"? Answer: all of them (not that jazz singers are any more warhorse-obsessed than instrumentalists). But because of what Wolff does with these warhorses, one is inclined to cut him some slack -- actually, a lot of slack. Yes, most of the songs on Jazz, Jazz, Jazz have been beaten to death, but Wolff's versions are so full of intriguing twists and turns that the 65-minute CD never sounds generic or commonplace. Wolff, who is joined by bassist John B. Williams and drummer Victor Jones, performs these warhorses in a way that is angular, cerebral, impressionistic, and very deconstructionist; like Walter Norris (a highly adventurous pianist), Wolff really turns the songs inside out both melodically and harmonically. The result is an album that, although not quite avant-garde, certainly doesn't go out of its way to be accessible; Jazz, Jazz, Jazz would rather challenge the listener than comfort the listener. Jazz, Jazz, Jazz is the type of disc that must be accepted on its own difficult, unsentimental terms, and those who can do so will find it to be an intellectually stimulating listen despite the warhorse factor. Alex Henderson, ALLMUSIC
MICHAEL WOLFF 2008 TRIO DATES:
Feb 22 Blue Room, American Jazz Museum Kansas City, MO
Additional Spring Tour Dates Confirmed
JAZZIZ MAGAZINE
Michael Wolff Trio - jazz, JAZZ, jazz
Pianist Michael Wolff is something of a musical chameleon, playing everything from vocal pop to worldbeat over the course of his career. So you can excuse him if the title of his latest disc comes on a little strong. Fortunately, the performances more than live up to the name. It's not just the slow pace of 'Autumn Leaves' that heightens the song's sense of longing. It's also the wide-open spaces between his phrases, allowing bassist John B. Williams and drummer Victor Jones to fill in the gaps. Elsewhere, as on Dizzy Gillespie's 'Con Alma,' Wolff's clever sense of harmony leads to some unexpected but wholly welcomed chord changes. His solos are generally fluid and graceful, although he changes pace with dissonant clusters that make use of the entire keyboard. The trio as a whole knows how to goad each other at the right moments. Midway through Herbie Hancock's 'Dolphin Dance,' Williams' bass lines become more forceful and Jones gets more aggressive on the snare, while Wolff runs through fractured lines that amp up the intensity before the group settles back into a relaxed groove. Wolff recorded this disc in 2001, but it's just now seeing the light of day. It was worth the wait. --John Frederick Moore, Jazziz Magazine
Michael Wolff has been heard in a variety of musical settings along the way; on the appropriately titled Jazz, Jazz, Jazz, he leads an acoustic piano trio that keeps things decidedly straight-ahead. Most of the songs on this 2001 session are warhorses that have been recorded countless times over the years; that is true of “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" and “Autumn Leaves" as well as Miles Davis' “Solar," Dizzy Gillespie's “Con Alma," and Herbie Hancock's “Dolphin Dance." Wolff even performs “My Funny Valentine," a standard so beaten to death that it inspired the following joke: how many jazz singers does it take to sing “My Funny Valentine"? Answer: all of them (not that jazz singers are any more warhorse-obsessed than instrumentalists). But because of what Wolff does with these warhorses, one is inclined to cut him some slack -- actually, a lot of slack. Yes, most of the songs on Jazz, Jazz, Jazz have been beaten to death, but Wolff's versions are so full of intriguing twists and turns that the 65-minute CD never sounds generic or commonplace. Wolff, who is joined by bassist John B. Williams and drummer Victor Jones, performs these warhorses in a way that is angular, cerebral, impressionistic, and very deconstructionist; like Walter Norris (a highly adventurous pianist), Wolff really turns the songs inside out both melodically and harmonically. The result is an album that, although not quite avant-garde, certainly doesn't go out of its way to be accessible; Jazz, Jazz, Jazz would rather challenge the listener than comfort the listener. Jazz, Jazz, Jazz is the type of disc that must be accepted on its own difficult, unsentimental terms, and those who can do so will find it to be an intellectually stimulating listen despite the warhorse factor. Alex Henderson, ALLMUSIC
MICHAEL WOLFF 2008 TRIO DATES:
Feb 22 Blue Room, American Jazz Museum Kansas City, MO
Feb 23 Sheldon Concert Hall St. Louis, MO (***SPECIAL GUEST IN ST. LOUIS - BADAL ROY)
Feb 24 Bach, Dancing, Dynamite Society Half Moon Bay, CA
Feb 25 Yoshi's San Francisco, CA
Feb 29 Knickerbocker New York, NY
Mar 1 Knickerbocker New York, NY
Look for more Michael Wolff tour dates to be confirmed soon.
For more information contact Seth Cohen PR.
