PJ Perry – This Quiet Room – Featuring Bill Mays – CellarMusic CM2018 57:43****
(PJ Perry – alto saxophone; Bill Mays – piano)
When PJ Perry was inducted into the Order Of Canada in 2016, which is Canada’s highest civilian honour, the citation read in part “for his contribution to Canada’s musical repetoire as an accomplished jazz saxophonist”. In many ways this understated citation incapsulates Perry’s own career. His talent was international in potential, but Canada was his home.
In some fashion, Bill Mays career faced a similar conundrum. While he is a stellar pianist, his improvisational capability has often been overlooked and under appreciated by listeners and critics over the course of his lengthy career.
This duo’s release on the CellarMusic label This Quiet Room brings together individuals who are given to smooth interplay and an easy give and take. This begins with pianist’s Bud Powell classic “Parisian Thoroughfare” which for anyone who has either lived or visited Paris, the opening bars of the number bring the hustle and bustle of Parisian traffic to life, and develops a musical story that summons up a vision.
The bebop master Charlie Parker composed “Laird Baird” which he dedicated to his son Baird, and he recorded the tune in 1952 with his quartet. Its structure is one of Parker’s unique versions of a 12 bar blues, which he used in other compositions such as Blues For Alice and Si Si. Perry and Mays capture Parker’s spirit of the number with its various inflections and chord changes.
In the Medley track, there is a delightful solo performance by Bill Mays of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein song “The Folks Who Live On The Hill”. Mays constructs a thoughtful sonic interpretation of the number that reflects his high standard of artistry.
The other part of this track is the Henry Mancini composition “Two For The Road” which he wrote for the movie of the same name that starred Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney. An appealing ballad, Perry and Mays find the emotional connection to the melody that makes for an evocative performance.
As these two stalwarts put their expertise and precision playing towards American songbook standards such as “There’s A Small Hotel” and “East Of The Sun ( And West Of The Moon)” it is quite evident the empathy between them is palpable and real. The give and take is faultlessly accomplished and the results are effortlessly entertaining.
The album closes with a Michel Legrand composition and the title track “This Quiet Room”. In this is a wonderfully executed romantic ballad, nothing feels repetitious, or perfunctory or overdetermined. Perry and Mays have captured the essence of the number and delivered on Legrand’s vision.
TrackList: =
Parisian Thoroughfare
In My Life
Laird Baird
Medley
The Folks Who Live On The Hill
Two For The Road
Alice Blue Gown
There’s A Small Hotel
Beija Flor
East Of The Sun ( And West Of The Moon)
This Quiet Room
—Pierre Giroux
