Search - Tony Hymas :: Hope Street Mn

A Marvel

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 02/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tony Hymas, longtime collaborator with guitar hero Jeff Beck, has another side to him that most music fans seem to know little about. Co-founder with neglected jazz great and British sax genius Tony Coe of that wacky outfit, The Lonely Bears, purveyor of several discs investigating Native American musics, collaborator with Sam Rivers on two memorable sessions (8 Day Journal and Winter Garden), and acoustic piano jazz maven of huge presence, it is in that latter mode that he here trots out his prodigal chops and unique musical vision.



First, a note about Nato, the label this disc first appeared on in 2002, and the version that I'm reviewing from. (Apparently, distribution of Nato has been taken over by Nocturne, an outfit I'm unfamiliar with.) One of those mysterioso French labels (like, e.g., Celp or Evidence), Nato was the home of not only the Lonely Bears, but several other Tony Hymas discs featuring Tony Coe, among the best being Les Sources Bleues (sadly, not available on Amazon) and Oyate, as well as the two aforementioned Tony Hymas/Sam Rivers collaborations. Some of these discs (this one among them) included the altogether remarkable artwork of Moebius with their fantastical landscapes, fevered visions, and unlikely creatures. It would be entirely wonderful if the full, quirky, Nato catalog were available on Amazon, but, alas, that would only happen in the best of worlds. Nevertheless, let us rejoice that at least some of it--including this remarkable disc--can be obtained here.



Hymas has recruited players every bit his peers, though ones not familiar to me: Billy Peterson on bass and Eric Kamau Gravatt on drums. Together, they create jazz trio music of startling range and accomplishment, easily moving from thrumming immediacy ("Quanah Parker," reprised from Oyate) to extreme delicacy ("9 Regrets," "Cousin Wendy"), to wooly world-jazz ("Allamambasalsalala"), to way-hip post-bop ("Point to Point), to lush pop-romanticism ("Just Calling for You") to edgy punkish jazz ("So . . . Turns the Worm").



All but two compositions are Hymas's: Irving Berlin's "Anything You Can Do," given an appropriately playful reading, and Prince's "Condition of the Heart," rendered in appositely bombastic/tender sentiments.



Looking for smart, out-of-the-mainstream but totally tuned in jazz piano trio? Look no farther than this spectacular disc by neglected Brit Tony Hymas. I don't think you'll be disappointed."