Lynne Arriale revives her Bloomington-linked past at Jazz Kitchen

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Lynne Arriale heading a trio with Jeremy Allen and Sean Dobbins 

Lynne Arriale's overriding message to audiences as she tours behind her new CD, "Being Human" (Challenge Records) can be summed up by the two pieces with which she ended her sole set Friday at the Jazz Kitchen. 

The veteran pianist joined forces with two former Indiana University colleagues — bassist Jeremy Allen and drummer Sean Dobbins — to cap her return gig with the Beatles' "Let It Be" and her own "Joy." 

The recommendation on behalf of peaceful acceptance in the first of those songs is gently contradicted by the exuberance of the Arriale piece from "Being Human." It's as if to say, "Yes, we know that calming ourselves down in the face of what has to be is good, but the opportunity to lift up out of even a peaceful passivity has to be seized."

Not only capturing both melodies in her readily communicative style, Arriale also drew from Allen and Dobbins contributions at the height of their respective achievement. In "Joy," Dobbins suggested a Latin-jazz framework without overemphasis, and the variety and precision of his tom-tom playing was first -rate. 

He had been explosive before in Arriale's bop-inspired "Slightly Off-Center," giving the outchorus particular excitement. He can thicken the texture while varying the weave like a few past virtuosos, building on a legacy that goes from Louis Bellson to the still active Jack DeJohnette.

Allen has a melodic gift in his solos, and also phrases like a singer, which he did memorably in Arriale's "Love." The leader's "Faith," a catchy number on the new album, featured a winning bass solo, nailing down the band's well-balanced, laidback, yet intense groove drawn from gospel music.

The ensemble gifts on display stood out in the free-form structure of "Curiosity," which depended upon the trio's expert rapport to make its full effect. The set began with "Passion," which also leads off the new CD. The wild introduction on the recording was snipped away so as to allow the theme to make immediate impact. 

Arriale is a pianist capable of subtlety, but she doesn't like to disguise the main point for long. The one standard the trio played allowed everyone to expatiate on the structure and chord pattern of "I Hear a Rhapsody." And rhapsodies on a few conventional but freshly imagined values are what Arriale has to offer.


[Photos by Rob Ambrose]




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