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This CD reissue confirms the greatness, and uncategorability (my word) of the late pianist
Jaki Byard. Sideman to Mingus and Maynard Ferguson, to Dolphy and Rahsaan Kirk and in his own Apollo Stompers band, Byard was described in his obituary as a jazz surrealist, and in at least one album promo as a musician comfortable in every genre from rag and stride to bop pianistry and the avant-garde. All shine through here.
Sunshine was a 1967 session with drummer Elvin Jones and bassist (and Ornette Coleman sideman) David Izenzon. It is surreal, as that term connotes a distorted or enhanced reality. Or, said differently, it is boundary-less.
Byard’s magic is that, on any piece, his starting point can be one jazz style (a blues, a swing thing, a bop focus) and his transitions can slide gracefully (and that is the test) into free form while retaining a glimmer of the original melody and structure. It is as if Earl Hines sat at the keyboard, or Powell or Garner, and at times gracefully slid over and let Cecil Taylor sit down, hands replacing hands.
Byard takes it all the way out on "Trendsition Zildjian;" plays a romantic on "Diane’s Melody;" strides through, swings and then embellishes W.C. Handy’s "St. Louis Blues" where he tinkles and then rolls lines of notes before he breaks the piece down into an off-kilter bluesified shadow of its original self. The only slightly discomfitting piece is "Cast Away," where Byard switches to a strummed, dissonant acoustic guitar.
Surreal? Maybe too real, a constant refresher in jazz history and openness, and a truly majestic work.
— Jules Epstein, December 2001
Release Date: 2 October 2001
Sunshine of My Soul (Prestige)
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last update 5 December 2001