Artist:     Mitchel Forman Trio

Album:     Puzzle

Label:     BFMJazz

Release Date:     07/24/2015

76

BUY DIGITAL

BUY PHYSICAL

Pianist Mitchel Forman unlocks Puzzle with a twisting, turning medley of Keith Jarrett’s early reverie “Death and the Flower” and Cole Porter’s eternal “What Is This Thing Called Love?” and then it’s game on!

After 30-plus years working with Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Wayne Shorter, etc., Forman, along with bassist Kevin Axt and drummer Steve Hass, marks his territory with a careening agility and a slippery sense of rhythm. He sticks to his melodies though, and they in turn stick to you.

The title track is a spacious aria while the translucent “Ten Cent Wings,” the pin-balling “Bounce” and the shuffling Mingus blues “Nostalgia In Times Square” prove the puzzle solved. This music is a constant marvel.

—Mike Jurkovic