Top: Satoko Fujii by Bryan Murray, Carol Liebowitz. Center: Dred Scott, Mara Rosenbloom by Sherry Rubel, Kazzrie Jaxen. Bottom: Virg Dzurinko, Ricardo Gallo
Diane Moser, who passed away last December, was a radiant member of the New York music scene. On For Diane, seven stunningly original pianists have contributed solo performances to honor her memory and legacy. Musically Speaking first encountered her very late in her life, but very happily, through her recording Birdsongs, and can attest to her remarkable qualities as a composer, performer, and gracious human being.
For Diane (Minus Zero)
A review
To honor the late Diane Moser, who left her mark on the music world as a pianist, composer, bandleader, educator, and activist, drummer/composer Vijay Anderson recruited seven magnificent pianists to contribute one or more solo recordings to a tribute album, For Diane. The result is 100+ minutes of often sublime performances of original compositions, either wholly or largely improvised, that reflect some of the light that Moser gave off in her all too short lifetime.
On the album’s 14 tracks, Satoko Fujii, Carol Liebowitz, Ricardo Gallo, Mara Rosenbloom, Dred Scott, Virg Dzurinko, and Kazzrie Jaxen present radically different approaches to the instrument and to composition. There’s the prepared piano of Fujii, whose economy creates spacious three-dimensional soundscapes. Her three contributions create an emotional narrative that travels from anguish to a grateful affirmation.
Liebowitz, meanwhile, sculpts deep feeling with block chords on “West Side Blue,” which accompanies her spellbinding “Sorceress.” Gallo follows with “Meditation for Diane,” an immersive sound mandala of unfolding patterns that generates ghost tones and incorporates electronically generated wind toward the end.
Rosenbloom takes a brisk and solitary walk through wonder, anguish, and pride, touching on the blues and the minuet before climaxing in a spark-striking apotheosis of sorts, with the spirit ascending into the ether.
Scott’s freighted spareness begins with “Bird Song,” which builds on a three-note figure of pianistic birdsong, and expands on “Eyes of Possibility.”
Dzurinko digs into the blues on the melodic ruminations “No Question” and “Bluebird,” with a fierce, catlike playfulness. Toward the end of “Fifth Sign,” she kneads the keyboard in a burst of chording that arrives like a sunrise before a gentle close.
Jaxen’s “Fragrance from the Realm of the Spirit” sets off quietly and then suggests we all get even quieter before descending into a sort of spiritual spelunking. Her “On the Enlightenment of Plants” opens with a delicate bell-like section. Then, ever sensitive to the family resemblance between piano and harp, Jaxen goes on to produce from the keyboard prodigious waves of sound with charged overtones that physically rearrange your molecules and commence the healing process.
For Diane is a pianistic improvisational feast, and you’ll want to at least take a palette cleanser of some sort between courses to fully appreciate each. The album is available on Bandcamp from Minus Zero, a musicians’ collective for human rights and social justice, which will contribute 100% of the proceeds (minus Bandcamp’s cut) to Planned Parenthood.
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© 2021 Mel Minter