Markus Gottschlich’s keen mind, lively imagination, and positive energy helped rejuvenate the New Mexico Jazz Workshop during his all too brief residence as its executive director in 2019. Those same qualities inform his compositional skills, and his dazzling pianism gives full rein to his expressive spirit, as heard on his latest recording, Found Sounds (available November 27). With 25 Years, Edward Simon treats us to a self-curated tour through some of the high points of his two and a half decades of recorded work, reminding us that he deserves to be ranked among the foremost practitioners of his art.

Markus Gottschlich
Found Sounds (indie)
A review
Armed with a binaural microphone and a handheld recording device, pianist/composer Markus Gottschlich recorded a wide range of everyday sounds on his world travels over the course of several years. He uses these sounds as compositional inspiration for the nine original tracks that constitute his latest release, Found Sounds, with Martin Kocian (bass) and David Halasz (drums), and guest appearances from Bobby Shew (trumpet), Bruce Williams (alto sax), and Yogev Shetrit (percussion).

The sounds—they range from London’s Big Ben and the New York subway to the beeping of an ICU medical device and the clattering of Vienna’s Fiaker (traditional horse and carriage)—are springboards for Gottschlich’s imagination, and they are used in different ways in the tracks. They often introduce the music they inspired, sometimes thread through the track, and in one case, “Shofar,” function as a connective and intensifying bridge. The music in every case is an imaginative personal interpretation of the recorded environment, not a programmatic rendering. So “Irmageddon,” which begins with a rooftop recording of hurricane Irma’s landfall in Miami Beach, has the intensity of a storm and references sheets of rain, but it’s Latin feel reflects the cultural environment. Gottschlich’s fingers at no time leave his hands on “Irmageddon” but fly cleanly over the keyboard, with playful rhythmic stutters.

Found Sounds reveals Gottschlich’s expressive musical personality. “Shofar,” which is punctuated by the Shofar horn, feels like a doorway, a passage from serious self-reckoning to a brighter hopefulness. “Taipei,” which begins with a recording of the city’s bustle accompanied by a fairytale piano, is a love song to the city, pure and simple, with a love-struck Gottschlich riding waves of fascination. “Time Will Tell” transforms Big Ben’s sounding of the half-hour into a bass line that leads to a reflective meditation, deepened by Williams’ alto. The wistful waltz of “A Last Dance” captures the bittersweet close of an evening’s gig, with an affecting solo from Shew, whose caressing tone and unerring sense of rhythm deepens the moment.

Found Sounds has a sort of double meaning. Aside from the sounds recorded on his binaural device, the title could refer to the recovery of a stolen computer two years after it went missing—a computer that had the only copy of the album’s recorded material. (Back up all your data, folks.) Either way, Found Sounds offers an entertaining and informative glimpse into Gottschlich’s imaginative process and recasts the humdrum and everyday in a brighter light.

Edward Simon
25 Years (Ridgeway Records)
A review
Turning 50 years old in 2019, pianist/composer Edward Simon was inspired to take a look back at his two and a half decades of recordings as a leader, and he shares a self-curated retrospective of his remarkable and diverse body of work in the two-CD package 25 Years. I’m always happy to have a reason to revisit Simon’s work—not that I really need one, since he’s been one of my personal favorites ever since I first made his musical acquaintance back in the ’00s.

The 17 tracks, drawn from 12 albums (three are reviewed on this site: Venezuelan Suite, Sorrows and Triumphs, and Steel House), cover a lot of territory, and they clearly display one of Simon’s distinguishing characteristics: he bridges and blends Latin, classical, and jazz music without any apparent effort. On just about every track, you’ll hear influences from all three genres, maybe a folkloric rhythm of his native Venezuela married to a minimalist compositional approach and rounded off with an architecturally sturdy improvisational development. Another characteristic on ample display is Simon’s clarity of thought, which is demonstrated in both his compositions and his improvisations. That clarity of thought is married to a compassionate heart, and Simon’s supple technique enables a full and graceful expression.

The album is a collection of highlights, but a few stand out. “Barinas,” from Simon’s 2014 masterwork, Venezuelan Suite, is based on the joropo, Venezuela’s national music and dance, and features Marco Granados on flute and Jorge Glem on cuatro. Adam Cruz is on drums here, as he is on several of the more Latin-inflected albums. “Govinda,” from 2007’s Océanos, emanates from a profoundly quiet space. Simon has the ability to unobtrusively reach deep inside himself and, in so doing, reach deep inside a listener. The track includes altoist David Binney, whose rhapsodic playing fits so perfectly, jigsaw puzzle–like, with Simon’s; vocalist Luciana Souza; guitarist Adam Rogers; bassist Scott Colley; and drummer Brian Blade. Binney, Colley, and Blade reappear often on the collection, particularly on the tracks that are more jazz inflected. There’s the “look, ma, no hands” burner “Navigator,” from 2003’s The Process, with John Patitucci on bass and Eric Harland on drums. “Pathless Path,” from 2013’s Live in New York at the Jazz Standard (recorded in 2010), features a trio with Patitucci and Blade in an expansive and abstract exploration. There’s the deep appreciation expressed in Simón Diáz’s “Caballo viejo,” with Mark Turner (tenor sax), Larry Grenadier (bass), and Cruz (drums), and the stately, almost classical approach to Violeta Parra’s iconic “Gracias a la vida.”

For you who are unaware of Edward Simon, this collection, with its excellent notes from Ted Panken, is a perfect starting point. For you who do appreciate his work, it provides a fitting compilation, and it may, as it did for me, introduce you to material that had previously, inexplicably escaped your notice and may require additions to your collection. For one and all, 25 Years should help elevate a somewhat underappreciated artist into a wider acknowledgment of his unique and nourishing contributions.

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