A 2008 residency at the MacDowell Colony, an artist retreat, in New Hampshire put pianist/composer Diane Moser in touch with avian composers with whom she engaged in a musical give-and-take, responding on the piano to their birdsongs in back-and-forth improvisations that she recorded. In the evening, she’d transcribe these sessions, and over the years, she has performed these tunes in a wide variety of styles, from acoustic to electronic, solo piano to big band. Since 2013, she has been playing them in a trio setting with Anton Denner (flute, piccolo) and Ken Filiano (bass). Birdsongs, her latest release, features performances from this remarkably synched trio and on solo piano that carry the invigorating scent of the New England woodlands.

Diane Moser
Birdsongs (Planet Arts)
A review
Pianist/composer Diane Moser’s Birdsongs offers refreshing and imaginative music that is lifted into the air on the wings of stellar performances from her, Anton Denner (flute, piccolo), and Ken Filiano (bass). Its nine tracks include seven originals transcribed from the musical interactions between Moser and a forest of avian composers. The proceedings open with “Birdsongs for Eric,” dedicated to the late saxophonist/composer Eric Dolphy, who also had a penchant for playing with the birds. The track opens with a mesmerizing, light-as-gossamer interplay among the trio before settling into a groove, and it features airborne solos from both Denner and Filiano. Keep an ear open for Moser’s tart passing chords, which tease the ears forward with harmonic surprises. MacDowell’s Woodlands Suite, Part 2: Morning and Afternoon follows with four tracks: the aubade “Hello” (based on the black-capped chickadee), with a bowed, flutelike bass; the quick-hopping “Dancin’ with the Sparrows” (chipping sparrow); the majestic galumph of “If You’ll Call Me, Then I’ll Call You” (American robin), with an energetic three-way improv, and a funky loopiness that recalls Monk; and the bluesy, episodic “Won’t You Come Out to Play” (a reflection on the surrounding landscape and time of day). “The (Un)Common Loon,” commissioned from composer Kyle Pedersen, provides an intermission with an eerily evocative, gently swinging ode to the water bird—another track on which Denner and Filiano shine. The album closes on Part 2 of the suite, Evening, comprising three solo piano performances. It opens with variations on Amy Beach’s “A Hermit Thrush at Eve,” whose off-center Romanticism is balanced by a more modern sense of space. The track progresses through a short, stately rag section before transforming into a captivating bolero. Moser’s “Folksong” is a singularly affecting American tune, with a touch of New England hymn, that calls on us to relax into life’s struggles. The album closes with the liquid rumination of Moser’s “When Birds Dream.” Birdsongs offers a compositional and improvisational tour de force as Moser moves the birdsongs through a prism of enchanting, continually shifting alterations that take a gravitational hold on your attention and imagination. Together, the nine tracks offer a restorative stroll through the woods that bears repeating.

© 2018 Mel Minter