Shifting Paradigm Archive

Bryan Nichols (solo piano) – Looking North – Shifting Paradigm

by Audiophile Audition | Aug 8, 2016 | Jazz CD Reviews

Pianist Bryan Nichols takes listeners northward. Bryan Nichols (solo piano) – Looking North [TrackList follows] – Shifting Paradigm SP-119 46:20 [5/27/16] ****: The American upper-Midwest is a location of placid beauty: wintery landscapes, warm summer nights, windswept countryside, and lonely rural roads; forests, lakes, towns, and families. Minnesota is the place which permeates Bryan Nichols’ first solo piano album, the aptly titled Looking North. Nichols grew up in what is known as the Star of the North, spent time in Iowa and Chicago, and then returned home. The ten tracks on Looking North (eight originals and two regional cover tunes) form a centralized narrative which surveys raising children and being married; living amid nature; and the act of musical creation. Minneapolis-St. Paul and the surrounding Minnesota area isn’t widely acknowledged by outsiders as having a thriving jazz community, but in reality Nichols is part of a first-rate jazz fellowship. The Bad Plus is probably the most recognized jazz group from Minneapolis. Nichols is friends with Bad Plus drummer Dave King, who is also active in the less-familiar Minnesota jazz trio, Happy Apple. Happy Apple’s 1997 debut had an important impact on Nichols as a teen discovering jazz, so when Nichols […]