John Escreet: Departure No. 1

By John Chacona
July 3, 2024
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When you first listen to "Departure No. 1," from John Escreet's The epicenter of your dreams (Blue Room Music, 2024), you might well ask, Who wrote that? At once familiar but tantalizingly hard to pin down, the composition sounds like a Bud Powell tune or maybe an undiscovered Herbie Nichols gem, perhaps in an edition by Jaki Byard. Nope. It's by Stanley Cowell, a pianist/composer who matches those luminaries for brilliance and singularity. The Yorkshire-born Angeleno pianist, bassist Eric Revis and powerhouse drummer Damion Reid roar through Cowell's playful chart like children rushing for shelter in a sudden downpour. On tenor, Mark Turner eats up the changes with an almost absurdly videogame-level speed and agility, nailing the arrival.

Contact John Chacona on All About Jazz.
John Chacona is a freelance journalist, content writer and producer in Cleveland.

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