Earlier, I mentioned that I wondered why the piano had never become the “face” of jazz. I think that my wonderment comes from the fact that there are SOOOOO many jazz pianists dating from the start of jazz to its present-day iteration. As much as I like the piano, I begrudge not the saxophone for having achieved the moniker of “the most popular instrument of jazz”. If it’s jazz, I’ll take two, so there.
I’ll tell you right up front that Monk, as in Thelonious Monk, was my absolute favorite of jazz pianists. That is, right up until about eleven (11) years ago when Ms Cava Menzies caught my attention. She made an album titled Moment to Moment, on which she was joined by Mr. Nick Phillips. My favorite intro (coined by yours truly) is that “she plays piano, he plays trumpet; and together, they make music”.
MTM is an outstanding, nay – extraordinary piece of jazz ‘exquisiteness’, if there is such a thing. Cava’s expertise on the piano is, in my humble opinion, tantamount to being equal to Monk, and Nick’s magnificent trumpet would even put Dizzy Gillespie on notice. Okay, OKAY! That may be a bit overboard, so hopefully the founders will not come ‘round to haunt me this evening. What can I say – I’m stricken! You were teased yesterday with “The Peacocks”, and today I present you with my personal favorite of the Cava/Nick combo, “Mal’s Moon”, along with a few more pieces of piano goodness.
Notwithstanding, I have great love for all of jazz’s musicians. Pay attention to these songs (while enjoying them all): “Dolphin Dance” by Sunny Paxson, “Koln, Part 1”, by Keith Jarrett (practically any song from Jarrett will hijack a piano lover’s heart), and “Autumn Nocturne”, by Danny Grissett. Enough – hit that “play button” and be amazed.
copyright 2025 jblackstarr for SMOOTHE
Jazz, jazz, and nothing but jazz.
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