Lynne Arriale Trio - Melody (2008)

The TCB Label. Lynne Arriale's Melody is her fifth release, her second for the TCB label (The Montreux Jazz Festival Label). Previous TCB releases have focused on the label's "Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series." This series is devoted to Swiss live recordings of vintage jazz. Recordings include performances by Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Art Blakey, and Quincy Jones to name three. The Art of The Trio. Pianist Lynne Arriale, 1991 graduate from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and the 1993 winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, has been honing her trio craft since 1993. She has a confident touch and her tonal spectrum is broad. Her support in Calley and Davis is solid and swinging, supporting her multicultural explorations. Arriale's song choice and composition is as widespread as her tonal vision. Her major interest on this recording is incorporating Celtic elements into her playing and composing. This influence is best heard in the folk-blues romp "The Highlands." The elements are also in her other originals "Tuning" and "The Forgotten Ones." She rounds out the disc with "But Beautiful" and the William Walton composition "Touch her Soft Lips and Part." Broad, I said. Lynne Arriale submits an enjoyable and eclectic collection of tunes that is definitely off the beaten path. ~ C.Michael Bailey

Personnel: Lynn Arriale: Piano; Scott Calley: Bass; Steve Davis: Drums.