Music Blogs

Tony Moreno's Trio Music: The naked city is full of sordid tales: greed, lust, corruption, angst, glee, misery, madness, all the stuff that makes a great jazz record. What? You question that assertion? Drummer/leader Tony Moreno is one of the city's denizens of the night, a street worker who has performed in all of Manhattan's jazz clubs and jazz alleys, a tough guy with a million tales to tell. A few of those tales are heard on his debut as a leader, Trio Music (Art of Life Records). Accompanied by fellow jazz travelers Bill Gerhardt on piano and Mike Holstein on acoustic bass, Moreno imagines a New York  where people still listen to Erroll Garner, read books by O. Henry, and generally stay in their habitats 'til the town cools off.

Though recorded in New York, Trio Music was actually inspired by that most civil of American cities, Asheville, North Carolina. Like all good travelers, Moreno observed the locals and drank at their watering holes, and came away sated.

"In May of 2006 I received a composing commission from the Jazz Composer's Forum based in Asheville, North Carolina," he writes in the albums liner notes. "I decided to write a suite of pieces based on my reflections of the city. Asheville is surrounded by great natural beauty: the Blue Ridge Mountains, Douglas Falls and Mount Cammerer and has historically been an important contributor to American Arts and Letters. Of the seven pieces that comprise the suite, five are represented on this recording. Bill and Mike's pieces fit perfectly both thematically, with all the previously written material, and as part of the group sound we were developing."

The selected MP3, "Float," perfectly represents Moreno's trio. As influenced by Euro styles as classic American post-bop, the trio dance and duel, float and punctuate with great skill and panache, as if operating a sail boat on the high seas. There is much wind in their collective sails, the music flowing in swells and rainy impressions. Though once a proponent of the Elvin Jones school of drumming ferocity, Moreno is more light and supple in style here, his shimmering cymbal work especially propulsive.

"Float"

Randy Runyon Is God: Geezers old enough to remember the '60s well know the graffiti that announced a new star to the world: Clapton is God. Back then, before he grew a paunch and laid it down with Sally, Eric Clapton was the world's undisputed greatest rock guitarist. Pre Jimi Hendrix there was no touching the mad kid with the white boy ‘fro. Seventeen-year-old Randy Runyon is not god yet, but he is surely an archangel.

Currently attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, Runyon plays like an old soul on his self-titled debut as a leader. His song selections are far beyond the usual standards fare including classic and challenging material such as Thad Jones' "A Child Is Born," Joe Henderson's "Recorda Me," Wayne Shorter's "Witch Hunt" and the eternally difficult composition, "All The Things You Are."

Runyon approaches the songs like Kenny Burrell with a Pat Metheny fixation, his dark and stinging notes dancing over the bar lines with a studied logic. Runyon's playing is calm and assured, as if he has nothing to prove. And he focuses on the essence of each melody rather than how fast he can play or the usual guitar pyrotechnics.

Debut albums from supposed prodigies are generally sad affairs resulting in a brief bubble of excitement followed by a long walk in the wilderness.  Prepare to welcome Ruynon with honey and rose petals.

"Blues-a-Que"