Roberto Magris: Match Point

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Roberto Magris (p)
Dion Kerr (b)
Rodolfo Zuniga (d)
Alfredo Chacon (vib, cga)

Label:

JMood

July/2022

Media Format:

CD

Catalogue Number:

JM019

RecordDate:

Rec. 8 December 2018

I was first aware of Trieste-born pianist and composer Magris in 2007 as an accomplished post-bop performer, and his reputation and activities have broadened since then. This pre-pandemic session was done in Miami, where he had recorded twice before, and the international personnel based there comprises an American bassist, a Costa Rican drummer and, perhaps most interesting, the young Cuban vibist Alfredo Chacon. He it is who provides most of the excitement and it’s good to hear that his flights, sometimes with the two hands playing in octaves, are not intimidated by hitting the occasional 'wrong' note. Magris’ choices of material and his four original pieces are stimulating, for instance with Tyner’s ‘Search For Peace’ done first as a (very) slow ballad and then in Afro-Latin mode. But, for the value of the solo work, this is far too long and, indeed, so is the pianist’s unaccompanied version of Monk’s ‘Reflections’. The recording, while clean, doesn’t do any favours to the drummer or bassist, so the whole enterprise sounds less exciting than it probably was at the time.

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