Let It Come to You

“The wonderful thing about making music (and possibly the reason why it's considered a universal language) is that the only requirement for understanding and enjoying music is the will to observe, interpret, and to be moved. I hope that this music takes you on whatever emotional journey you need at the moment...it certainly took me on one!” –Taylor Eigsti, Let It Come to You

The mantle of “child prodigy” is not only heavy but often difficult to cast aside. Taylor Eigsti’s talent was apparent when he was a mere toddler, and the young pianist drew considerable attention from age 8 when he opened for David Benoit, shared the stage with Dianne Schuur at age 12, with Dave Brubeck at 13, released his first recording at 14 and joined the faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop at 15. Since, the Menlo Park, California native has opened for Diana Krall, Al Jarreau and Hank Jones, appeared twice on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, graced the covers of Jazziz and Keyboard Magazine, landed in two consecutive DownBeat Critics Poll, and was the subject of a BET Jazz special. And his fifth recording and Concord debut, Lucky to Be Me (2006), not only featured a supporting team that included Christian McBride, Lewis Nash, James Genus, and Billy Kilson, it received two Grammy nominations as well (best instrumental composition and best instrumental jazz solo). With his Concord follow-up, Let It Come To You, in stores as of May 6th, 23-year-old Taylor hopes he’s finally proven himself worthy of both praise and criticism on the basis of his music alone.

The Recording

Taylor Eigsti’s sixth recording as leader follows his highly successful Concord debut, Lucky To Be Me, nominated for two Grammys and peaking at Number 7 on jazz radio charts. As the title suggestions, the original compositions, including the title track and the three-tune suite, “Fallback Plan,” reflect the pianist’s personal experiences and recognition that we can’t control everything in our lives, that opportunities can present themselves unexpectedly. “The main point I am trying to express on this album is that I have found that life is what happens when you are planning something else!” he says in his liner notes. “The best things in life, and also the worst things, often come unexpectedly, without any prior knowledge or control over the outcome… In my opinion, life is a ‘Fallback Plan’ for whatever else we were planning…. I feel that this is a very personal record, since I have begun to understand myself as a person a lot more, and I think that is always revealed within the music one creates.”

Let It Come To You is Taylor’s most adventurous recording to date, one reflecting not only his straight-ahead influences but also bringing to the fore some of his earliest attractions to the more funky, energetic grooves of contemporary music as well as the classical forms he studied and practiced throughout his school years. “I would call the style that I gravitate towards nowadays a combination of many different influences....my goal is to try to combine the fun, energetic interplay found in a lot of contemporary jazz with the sense of exploration of straight-ahead jazz. With my compositions, I am attempting to incorporate more modern classical harmony to try to create a unique infusion of music that has unpredictable, emotional harmony and a strongly-imbedded rhythmic drive.”

Julian Lage and Taylor Eigsti

The recording’s sequence seems to follow Eigsti’s musical evolution, extending beyond the comfort zone of straight-ahead and into some not-so-straight mixing wizardry. “There is a lot of straight-ahead jazz that kind of leads up to my own compositions at the end of the record. We decided to sequence it that way because that is how I might design a live set of the same music. One rather different texture that we used was a track of piano playing fast repeated chords in the background, faded waaay back in the mix, so that it sounds like a piano-flavored echo behind the melody. I called this texture ‘rhythm piano’ because it reminded me of the role of a rhythm guitarist in a rock band behind the lead guitar… Within a studio, you have a little more room for recording layers, and we wanted to have some fun with that. By the time we started to mix the record, it felt like we were mixing a whole orchestra because there were so many parts! I really enjoyed the freedom in this, and I hope that people will enjoy the different textures!”

The Music

The opening Cole Porter tune, “ I Love You,” starts with minor undertones and a brief statement of melody before Taylor takes it apart in linear fashion, the feel of a modal exercise shifting from pensive to giddy, aided and abetted by a fast loping bass and restless percussion. The tune seems to (logically, perhaps) reprise “Night and Day” as the fever rises until Taylor and company are bursting with a more chordal zen. The artificial fade out seems out of place. Pat Metheny’s “Timeline” is one of the album highlights, in large part due to Joshua Redman’s role in paying homage to the late tenor. Redman covers a lot of territory with his soulful, hard swinging, while Eigsti’s spiraling lines give his left hand its own voice, his chord patterns echoed by guitarist Lage who otherwise remains in the background. Eigsti and Redman engage in an animated conversation, trading quips, while Harland drives the ensemble forcefully from start to finish. Redman takes the lead in the final verse with a virtuosic display of ascending and descending showers of notes.

Taylor Eigsti©Devin Dehaven

“Portrait in Black and White” offers a telepathic, beautiful duet opportunity for piano and guitar. Relatively brief with a dark weaving of single lines from both instruments, Taylor conjures a harp’s rippling phrasing while Lage yields a mournfully stirring vibrato. Bringing back the trio with Harish Raghaven and Aaron McLendon for Wayne Shorter’s “Deluge,” the arrangement offers a repetitious verse spinning through many cycles before Eigsti engages in an angular passage, a long introduction to Shorter’s melody. The trio prances and swings before entering a more herky-jerky segment interrupted by Taylor’s toccata-like bassline vamp that brings the track to its resolution. The unique and effective arrangement of “Fever” includes a dramatic introduction via a duet of Eigsti and co-arranger/Colombian harpist Castaneda, whose instrument sounds much like a string bass. The melody emerges finally with a Latin rhythm that disguises the Peggy Lee vehicle so thoroughly that you soon forget where it started. Taylor’s articulation seems clean at any speed, no matter where he starts or stops.

The final four tracks are Eigsti’s original compositions and arrangements, starting off with the title track featuring his trio with Rogers and Harland. Rogers provides a majestic bass mesh, while the pianist offers a laid-back framework based on elegant chords, the layer of “rhythm piano,” and Harland’s subtle percussion, all meandering gently like a sonic float trip.

The “Fallback Suite” is arranged for the double tenor septet, with the core quartet joined by Dayna Stephens and Ben Wendel on tenor saxes and Evan Francis on flutes. Eigsti’s early affinity for smooth jazz resurfaces here as mellow melodies and symphonic harmonies emerge. In describing his inspiration in his liner notes, Taylor says that “When I started to realize that I could control only my own sense of personal happiness, my life started changing immediately. I started to let whatever happened just fall into place, and began with a clean slate. I was no longer going to try to control every aspect of my life…” The first movement “Less Free Will” flows readily from the previous “Let It Come to You,” but with more layers of sound, first from Lage’s solo, then the horns, and then the Rhodes, while Harland provides the propulsion. The full band provides a series of repeating phrases before Taylor, then the horns offer their ideas. It’s not particularly taxing, nor does it seem to have a destination in mind, but it offers a relaxing interlude, a chance to consider one’s direction. And Eigsti reassures us that we are “Not Lost Yet,” starting the second movement with bouncey keyboarding and funky horn harmonies belying a classical undertone and interweaving of multiple influences, most notably suggested via Francis’ flute. Dayna Stephens’s sax solo here is a high point, keeping the arrangement from falling into clichéd smoothness, while the flute adds an unexpected voice in support of Taylor’s piano. Like the first movement, this one has a relaxed flow, letting the music come to you without getting lost.

Taylor Eigsti©Randee St Nicholas

That Taylor Eigsti will be a creative force in jazz piano for decades to come seems indisputable, even without the predicted success of his latest release. Perhaps because his jazz and classical skills evolved more or less simultaneously, and only after an early attraction to smooth jazz, Taylor seems to readily meld his influences, effectively weaving basic components of each through his individual approach to composition and improvisation. Fluid improvisation is at the core of each arrangement, each original work; harmonies are luxurious, rhythms sure and at times playful and downright funky. Let It Come To You shows us that early promise has evolved into mature technique and imagination. This is not a prodigy at work, but an adult talent to be admired, discussed, even criticized as a leading voice. Nothing would please Taylor more.

“One of the biggest realizations I have ever had is that I also have practically no control over how people see me as a musician,” he said in a recent interview. “I have been ‘young’ my whole life, so there has never been a novelty to me associated with that, as I have no other point of reference. I am really just trying to work hard and develop some emotional music that is fun and intriguing to listen to, and if it somehow adds to the experience for a listener to know that I am 23, then that's fine with me. But if someone dislikes my music, I would prefer that they not chalk it up to "age", and rather judge me on what I am offering within the music alone. I say that because I would want the same respect if I create something that people like. I am going to be developing, learning, and growing older throughout my whole life, and I would never say that all of a sudden I'm at the age where I should be taken seriously, because I always took the music seriously myself. All I can hope for is the opportunity to continue to have an open mind, and to try to take listeners on a journey that affects them in a positive way.”

Listeners can take that journey today with Let It Come to You.

Taylor Eigsti celebrates the release of Let It Come to You in Boston at Scullers on May 14th (www.scullersjazz.com) and then in Manhattan at Jazz Standard. May 15-18 (www.jazzstandard.com). His partners on the recording will be joining him for the CD Release parties. More on Taylor Eigsti at www.taymusic.com. Quotes from Taylor’s liner notes for Let It Come To You and April 2008 Jazz Police interview.