19 December 2009
Blitz Magazine: The Shape Of The Things To Come
Michael McDowell

Within jazz circles, pursuing solo projects with the piano as the primary instrument is an enormous responsibility. With it comes the daunting task of being able to establish one's own identity in a field whose path has been paved by such formidable giants as virtuoso Art Tatum, the visionary Dave Brubeck and the prolific and diverse McCoy Tyner.

It could be inferred that the futility of living up to such a legacy was a factor in the development of the so-called smooth jazz in the 1970s and 1980s. Therein, technical virtuosity, while still a prerequisite, was not so much the focal point as it was a necessity to portray a variety of moods and imagery within the dreamscape that characterized the idiom.

In a career that spans several decades and includes collaborations with such like minded protagonists as the Pat Metheny Group, Larry Coryell, Fairport Convention and the perennially controversial Mahavishnu Orchestra, pianist Fred Simon has risen to that challenge repeatedly over the years.

In the aptly titled Since Forever, Simon reiterates his resolve by once again surrounding himself with the most sympathetic of sidemen, including Paul McCandless (oboe, saxophone and various wind instruments), Steve Rodby (bass) and Mark Walker (drummer). And if that format seems familiar, it most assuredly is.

Such was largely the instrumentation that defined the best work of jazz's perennial standard bearers, the classic John Coltrane Quartet (of whom the aforementioned McCoy Tyner was of course an indispensible presence). And while a cursory review suggests that the two could not appear more dissimilar in approach, a closer listen to the update of his earlier Simple Psalm herein at once evokes the transitional phases between the various movements in Coltrane's A Love Supreme.

Not that Simon is following in lockstep in the hopes of measuring up to an impossible to surpass standard. As the title track infers, he is indeed not only pursuing his own muse, but is defying the charges of elitism that detractors of the genre have suggested by openly embracing and dedicating the piece to the great Pete Seeger; co-founder of the Almanac Singers and the Weavers, whose 2008 At 89 CD was a Grammy winning highlight of an astounding seven decade career.

In A Silent Way follows suit in a subdued manner that belies the legacies of its inspirations, trumpeter Miles Davis and fellow keyboardsman and one time Cannonball Adderley sideman, Joe Zawinul. Likewise Song Of The Sea, which suggests a mastery of at will subtle variations in mood and execution, as demonstrated to perfection repeatedly in the Capitol-era works of the late, great Ron Goodwin.

To be certain, the aforementioned allegations of elitism have over the years obscured the inevitable and undeniable solidarity that persists not only within the various jazz factions, but amongst the various musical genres at large. And with Since Forever, Fred Simon has irrefutably demonstrated that not only are the various components of the equation a virtue,(rather than a means to invoke and/or perpetuate a schism), they in turn represent common ground between all concerned.

Or as Simon's media release suggested, "pop sensibility with jazz complexity". Indeed.