Marc Copland New York Trio Recordings Vol 2

Pianist Marc Copland isn't flashy. His m.o. excludes complicated arpeggiated lines, successive bars of modal vam, and nervous embellishment. His is an entirely more direct approach, relying on unembellished lines punctuated with clusters of dissonance and liberal use of space and sustain. On this second of his New York Trio Recordings, Copland is joined by bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian on eight tunes, all but one an original composition.

Voices differs significantly from its predecessor (volume one's Modinha) in the change in percussionist. On Modinha, Bill Stewart fills the drummer's chair, playing a nuanced, albeit traditional, percussive role. On Voices, Motian's method is radically different, employing his signature floating timekeeping, a technique noted for being as much melodic as rhythmic. The result expands the geography for Copland but especially for Peacock, producing a singularly delicate and sensitive recording that equals, if not surpasses, its highly regarded predecessor.

Contributing significantly to the CD's overall impact is that half the tunes are penned by Peacock. The opener “Vignette” — first recorded precisely 31 years ago in a Peacock-led trio with Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette (not yet the famed Standards Trio) — includes a characteristically simple and melancholic Peacock melody, here rendered after a brief bass intro. And while “Albert” could stand in for a conventional bop head, the other two Peacock originals — “Runner” and “That's It?” — are equally affecting, serving to provide harmonic spaces for successive piano and bass solos to investigate. Meantime, Motian's ride cymbal so often simply shimmers, embedded as backdrop, levitating the soloists and rendering them weightless.

If Voices has a shortcoming, it's the brevity of the recording, which at 48 minutes neither meets what we expect of the media's capacity nor satisfies the desire for more of this quietly remarkable CD.