Esmuc Blues

Albert Bover

4**** by All Music Guide

Tracklisting:

1. Aria Trio (A.Bover)
2. Old Bottles, New Wine (A.Bover)
3. Lennies Pennies (A.Bover)
4. Are You Too Beautiful? (R.Rogers-I.Hart)
5. RC. Etude (A.Bover)
6. Post Nuclear Holocaust (A.Bover)
7. Body & Soul (A.Bover)
8. Esmuc Blues (A.Bover)
9. I Fall In Love Too Easily (S.Cahn-J.Styne)
10. Pra Que Mentir (N.Rosa)
11. Set De Nou (A.Bover)
12. Basho (A.Bover)
13. Trio Improvisation
14. Aria (Piano Solo) (J.S.Bach)

Recorded in Barcelona, May 2001


Comments / Reviews:

"An exceptional trio outing by Spanish pianist Albert Bover, featuring Chris Higgins on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums. The piano sound is fantastic — hats off to engineer Jordi Vidal — and the trio interplay is crisp and inspired. A Bach "Aria," played in a bright rubato feel, kicks off the album; Bover reprises the theme unaccompanied at the end of the program. In between, he offers a remarkable bitonal reading of "You Are Too Beautiful" (he calls it "Are You Too Beautiful?"), as well as unconventional looks at "Body and Soul," "I Fall in Love Too Easily," and Noel Rosa's "Pra Que Mentir." (The liners fail to credit "Lennie's Pennies" to Lennie Tristano.) Bover's hip, memorable originals include the beautiful waltz "Old Bottles, New Wine," the poignant bossa ballad "Post Nuclear Holocaust," and the bright, churning 7/4 "Set De Nou." Bover, Higgins, and Rossy are also strikingly empathic on the spontaneously composed "Trio Improvisation.""
— David R. Adler (All Music Guide)

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"With each performance Albert Bover gains more and more respect from the public and reaffirms his position before those present: that he is the best pianist to emerge from this country in the last few years. So muchso that the opportunity to see him perform with his own formation, was too good to miss. He is even better than normal when accompanied by drummer Jordi Rossy. The motive of this reunion, completed by bassist Chris Higgins, was to present Bover's fourth album, "Esmuc Blues".

The interplay between Bover and higgins was not a surprise at all. The most revealing was to see how well the painist and drummer Jordi Rossy understand each other; proking sparks to fly amongst an already-dense repertoire of modern and ambitious pieces.

Classics, such as "You Are Too Beautiful" and "Body & Soul" emerged in startlingly daring forms, and the aria "Variaciones Goldberg" was given a jazz treatment. Bover has also grown as a composer, his new pieces flow between amalgamated rhythms and the dramatic simplicity of " Post Nuclear Holocaust".

Roger Roca (El Periódico)

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