This is one of contemporary jazz's great performers at work on his own, a beautifully-recorded album capturing an unaccompanied performance that any of the biggest international piano names in the music would be proud of - even if some of them might be disinclined to release anything so personal, or so short on easy options.
While there are certainly glimmers of Keith Jarrett and Taylor's original model Bill Evans on this session, the signature is entirely Taylor's own: the glistening minimalism of his spacey high-register sounds, the restrained under-the-lid strumming of strings and soft drumming on the woodwork (both features of a stunning investigation of Steve Swallow's Vaguely Asian) and a repertoire that blends romantic-classical piano phrasing and a casual lyricism derived from jazz standards.
The gentle, tango-like feel of Between Moons, the abstract, moonlit-frost mysteries of Ambleside, the hidden swing in Pure and Simple, the harmony movements in Evans Above, and the awesome pianistics of Clapperclowe all testify to Taylor's majestic range and richness of resources. A fitting, fragile and eventually loose and flowing account of Kenny Wheeler's much-played Everybody's Song But My Own complements the sense of a very reflective music in which such jazz regularities as swing and explicit, fluorescent-lit tunes are only sporadic.
This is a beautiful solo statement by a very modest star. - John Fordham (The Guardian
Track
01. Glebe Ascending
02. Vaguely Asian
03. Between Moons
04. Ambleside
05. Pure And Simple
06. Evans Above
07. Clapperclowe
08. Namasti
09. Everybody's Song But My Own
10. Field Day
11. Handmade
JOHN TAYLORpiano
All titles composed by John Taylor
Recorded October 17, 2002 and April 29, 2003 at Studio La Buissonne, Pernes les Fontaines
Sketch - SKE 333035 France