Clay Giberson – Spaceton’s Approach – Origin Records 82521, 64:56 ****1/2:
(Clay Giberson – piano; David Ambrosio – bass; Matt Garrity – drums)
If there is a criticism to be leveled at this lovely music, it is that it proceeds at such a leisurely, unhurried pace as to lull the unwary listener into complacency. But hold on. Why not just juice up one’s listening acumen? Wouldn’t that solve the problem? Yes, but not everyone will either have the capacity, inclination, or patience to do so.
And that’s a shame. Here is piano trio music altogether exquisite, played with consummate skill, deftly recorded, and entirely attractive—that may sink like a stone in the face of a more expressionistic, not to say bombastic, music purveyed by the likes of, say, the Bad Plus or the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. There’s a venerable jazz piano legacy stretching from Kirk Lightsey (esp. his transcendent disc, Everything Is Changed) to Armen Donelian that has gone largely ignored, and this music neatly fits into that groove.
Don’t make the mistake of ignoring Clay Giberson, a Pacific Northwest pianist with a distinct voice, huge chops, and compositional intelligence of rare capability. Recommended.
TrackList: It Might As Well Be Spring, From the Outside, Spaceton’s Approach, Trust, Passing by, Solar, Beyond the Horizon
— Jan P. Dennis
