Suite Talk

Excellent modern jazz:
Bennett's not a name previously known to me, though she's had several albums out before now. She's got a great band on this one--Rick Margitza, Bill Mobley, Rufus Reid & Billy Hart--& she plays good, distinctive, though unspectacular piano, but what really makes this one are the smart compositions. Most of them come from two suites of related compositions--the "Texas Suite" (based on a 16-bar theme which I found virtually unrecognizable as it gets reworked from track to track) & "New York Suite" (based on a bluesier 8-bar theme whose variations are much more obvious to the ear), though to give variety to the album she's mixed them in together & also added a few other compositions. The harmonic sensibility is very distinctive: these don't really sound like anyone else's tunes, & it's a great pleasure to hear someone writing mainstream jazz tunes that don't sound just like Herbie Hancock or Wayne Shorter knockoffs. My favourites here are the most "outside" track, "Blue Bonnet", & the mysterious "Falling". There's also a moving elegy for a former drummer, A.D. Minion, called "Taps for A.D.", where the dedicatee's absence is symbolized by Hart's sitting the track out. Bennett herself is a discreet player, without the tendency towards overpolish & technical finesse which makes some modern jazz sound so cold. Sometimes I wished she were a little more forceful, but otherwise I have no complaints for _Suite Talk_: it's a very enjoyable disc.