Come Together (Lynne Arriale Trio, Motema Records)

Come Together, set for release on Motéma Records on September 14^th, is the 9^th recording and 10^th anniversary celebration of the Lynne Arriale Trio. And given the consistently stellar live performances and recordings of this ensemble over the past decade, these musicians should have much higher profiles. Perhaps this recording will deservedly reach a wider audience.

Lynne Arriale has been standing the critical jazz audience on its ear for more than ten years with her exquisite melodies, deceptively simple lines, and what Jazz Times described as “a flawless touch, an impeccable sense of complex rhythms, and a harmonic curiosity.” A classical piano graduate of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music before turning to jazz, Arriale established her chops subbing for Marian McPartland in the 1991 “100 Golden Fingers" tour of Japan, where she performed with piano legends Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Barron, Cedar Walton, and Monty Alexander. Since earning first place in the 1993 Great American Jazz Piano Competition, Arriale has concentrated exclusively on her piano trio. Bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Steve Davis have been her collaborators for much of the past ten years—Davis in fact has been her timekeeper on every recording. And together, this threesome has produced some of the most elegantly accessible yet sophisticated music of any small jazz ensemble working today.

With both Inspiration (TCB, 2002) and their triumphant 2003 Motéma debut, Arise, the Lynne Arriale Trio reached the #1 position on Jazz radio. Arise went on to make top ten lists in The New Yorker and The Economist, was named UPI's Best CD of 2003, and debuted at #17 on Billboard. Now the trio returns with Come Together, a collection of six brilliant originals by Arriale, urbane reconstructions of two traditional melodies, and the title Lennon-McCartney cover. The combination of original, traditional, and popular tunes worked well last time out, and it is a pleasure to see Arriale increasingly recording her own compositions. Generally the material here is more introspective than her previous output, even more so than Arise, but no less satisfying and often agreeably unpredictable in dynamics and rhythms that are alternatingly regal and tribal, classical and global, Evanescent and Monkish.

Arriale opens the title track with a quirky harmony over an ostinato baseline accented by Davis’ clattering punctuations, then moves into the deconstruction zone. Anderson seems a bit subdued in this mix until about the halfway mark, when he takes over the solo space, adding to the overall quirkiness with varied tempos as he slides and plucks, while Davis joins in with his trademark pitterpats and tittering snare. Indeed, it all “comes together” in the end.

From its majestic presentation of melody, “Home” sings with Arriale’s signature lyricism. Anderson provides the perfect accompaniment, adding contrapuntal accents to the piano melody, the two baselines complimenting each other. Davis adds interesting clicks, rides, and occasional rolls. The bass solo at the midpoint takes up the melody, with Arriale outlining the structure while Anderson fills in the space. This is as pretty a melody as she has written, and she has written many. By the last return to the head, you are humming along. No complicated improvisation here, and none is needed.