Perhaps the easiest way for a veteran and highly acclaimed live jazz performer and educator to make his mark as a solo artist would be to gather some equally venerated colleagues and whirl and bop their way through well-worn standards. One can tell from the start of Balancing Act, the dazzlingly eclectic, ultra-adventurous debut by pianist Zachary Bartholomew that the Florida Memorial University professor has something much more compelling in mind.
The expansive length alone (nearly 80 minutes) is a sign that this cat and his quintet have been champing at the bit to unleash these ten originals (plus a bonus trio version of the fiery, rambunctious and solo-filled post-bop opener “Crazy Socks”) for a while. Bartholomew confirms this in his detailed liner notes, explaining that the collection was six years in the making, with about half of the pieces written pre-pandemic, and the others after he began his busy performance schedule again.
Bartholomew describes the set as a journey balancing cohesive ensemble action and solo inventiveness – but the soulful, improv-rich sparks he creates with Marty Quinn (bass), Rodolfo Zuniga (drums), David Fernandez (sax) and Benny Benack III (trumpet) is only part of the magical spell. The pianist and his crew are also master storytellers, creating musical expressions and illustrations from visual concepts and themes.
Truly, inspiration-wise, anything goes with a professor who titles an instant classic like “Crazy Socks” after a student’s comments about his sockwear at his shows. The speedily paced “Sunny Days Driven By” is more than an exquisite showcase for Bartholomew’s rhythmically peripatetic ivory skills – it’s also something of a soundtrack to the constant driving he does getting to gigs throughout his home state. The likewise speedy, percussively diverse “Bring The Noise” pays homage to the region’s great Afro-Cuban influences, complete with Benack’s snazzy solo action.
The travel theme picks up on the spirited, whimsical, sax and piano fired “Hobo’s Lullaby,” which imagines a fantastical, multi-faceted journey in a box car. While Bartholomew ventures into his own autobiography in very different times of his life on the mood swing filled “Balancing Act” (an ode to the many responsibilities of adulthood as a musician) and a whimsical, tension filled ode to childhood mischievousness (“Midnight Nefarity”), he paints equally compelling outside character studies on “The Long and Winding Road” (not the Beatles tune, but a serious study of emotional darkness and light, weighing tragedy against happiness) and a wildly, swirling, fantastical adventure of an innocent boy enjoying the fruits of an active fantasy life.
Comments