DARREN LITZIE, On My Own Time

It’s the best-case scenario every artist dreams of – the opportunity to dedicate themselves to a long-term creative project without a strict deadline, navigating melodic, rhythmic and harmonic challenges and emerging, as the Darren Litzie does with a transcendent album like On My Own Time.

With a set of stylish, hipster originals and uniquely haunting, atmospheric, expansively arranged re-imaginings of “Moonlight in Vermont” and “Time of the Season,” the brilliant multi-talented emerging pianist/composer – an Adjunct Professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield CT – gamely showcases his supple sense of swing,  improvisation, originality and transcendent adventure while exploring a multitude of styles with the same versatile trio (bassist Chris Deangelis, drummer John Riley) he vibed with on his critically acclaimed 2022 debut My Horizon.

Addressing his eclectic musical spirit, Litzie says the album is a snapshot of where he is creatively now, a time where he’s been exploring more intricate harmonic concepts, immersing more in Brazilian music while keeping the influence of 60’s music and the Beatles alive. With his original pieces, he starts the journey with the fanciful, Brazilian Baião based syncopations of the title track and the lilting, swaying romantic samba “Just After Three” before hitting all sorts of unexpected destinations – ranging from the sensual country/R&B flavored ballad “If Only I Could Forget” and the jaunty mid-tempo blues cool of “Busy Work” to the breezy, lighthearted swinging strut of “A Short Walk from Here,” whose groove heats up midway through.

The latter tune features a snappy bass solo by Deangelis and – true to Litzie’s deep technical side – eases through three major tonal centers, each a major third apart in a subtle nod to John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” For fresh color and narrative continuity, Litzie includes two whimsical, fast bustling interludes (“Brief Distraction,” “Last Minute Thought”) which invert the typical melody-solos-melody format into a solo-melody-solo. Inspired by “Eight Days a Week,” the pianist uses the fade in effect on both.

As tasty as his originals are, his spin on the Zombies classic and love for the Beatles demands an album down the road with Litzieized twists of the great songs of that era.