Chataigne Grilléés, a reimagined version of the great Mel Tormé classic the Christmas song, is a feature for Piano, recorded on the ESO's debut CD, with the piano duties admirably executed by Colin Hogan. After a rubato piano intro and a canon for tpts, tbns and saxes, the straight 8s/ECM-style tune begins, hadning the disguised melody off for

Chataigne Grilléés, a reimagined version of the great Mel Tormé classic the Christmas song, is a feature for Piano, recorded on the ESO's debut CD, with the piano duties admirably executed by Colin Hogan. After a rubato piano intro and a canon for tpts, tbns and saxes, the straight 8s/ECM-style tune begins, hadning the disguised melody off for various sections in counterpoint, a nice moment in the sun for trombonist Rob Ewing, and a final A section complete with bravura lead tpt that leads into an open Keith Jarrett-inspired open piano solo, after which the horns re-enter, and the tune ends as it began with the initial impressionist 5/4 solo piano figure. (BTW, that piano figure is a disguised paraphrase of a snippet from another holiday classic I will leave to the listener to discern. No one has guessed it yet, but they always hear it as soon as I tell them what it is!)
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Fall is by Wayne Shorter, the living jazz musician who has had the most influence on me, both as a player and as a composer. This elegant, harmonically exquisite piece was recorded by Miles with the second great Quintet in the 1960s, and it is a malleable piece that can be approached a number of ways. To my mind it is a perfect 16 measure tune. The

Fall is by Wayne Shorter, the living jazz musician who has had the most influence on me, both as a player and as a composer. This elegant, harmonically exquisite piece was recorded by Miles with the second great Quintet in the 1960s, and it is a malleable piece that can be approached a number of ways. To my mind it is a perfect 16 measure tune. The intro is quasi rubato for soprano and brass and spacy rhythm, there is a nice open section with an airy 12/8, featuring the guitar, melody with intricate horn counterlines, soprano and tpt solos with different BGs, and then a pretty interesting layered build for Tbns, Saxes and tpts, followed by an arch form reprise of the rubato intro.
Check out the score