Frank Kimbrough - Solstice album review: A delicate piano brimming with energy

Solstice
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Artist: Frank Kimbrough
Genre: Jazz
Label: Pirouet

Frank Kimbrough is best known for his long-standing and distinguished occupation of the piano chair in the Maria Schneider Orchestra, but every now and then the US pianist drops a pearl of his own.

Solstice is a collection of other people's tunes (with one original) that could serve as a fair summation of the 60-year-old's career and influences: tunes by Carla Bley, Paul Motian, Andrew Hill and two from Annette Peacock speak of an open-minded improviser poised between lyricism and abstraction.

With consummate support from two old friends and associates – bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Jeff Hirschfield – Kimbrough explores that space in a series of mostly first takes that are delicate yet robust, gentle as lullabies but brimming with energy and belief.

Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a musician, writer and director