Personnel:
Yaniv Taubenhouse (p), Rick Rosato (b), Jerad Lippi (d)
Reference: FSNT-737
Bar code: 8427328437370
Each piece approaches this idea from a different perspective, combining rhythmic complexity, shifting harmonies, and recurring musical motifs. Alongside Taubenhouse's original compositions, the trio offers imaginative interpretations of Thelonious Monk's "Bye-Ya," Leonard Bernstein's "Some Other Time," and Bud Powell's "Oblivion."
Joining Taubenhouse are bassist Rick Rosato and drummer Jerad Lippi, his longtime musical partners of more than twelve years. Their close musical understanding, developed through years of collaboration, brings a remarkable sense of unity, spontaneity, and freedom to the performances.
Circles is both a musical exploration and a reflection on repetition, change, memory, and the passage of time, inviting listeners to discover the many circles that connect music with life itself.
"I always take pleasure in hearing musicians who have spent years together continuing to discover new possibilities in one another’s playing. Pianist and composer Yaniv Taubenhouse, alongside bassist Rick Rosato and drummer Jerad Lippi, has cultivated precisely that kind of musical relationship for over a dozen years. Circles, the fourth instalment of their Moments in Trio series on Fresh Sound New Talent, makes a persuasive case for longevity, trust and an ever-evolving musical conversation.
Taubenhouse’s background offers some insight into the sophistication of his writing. Born in Israel, he began studying classical piano at an early age before pursuing jazz studies in the United States, eventually graduating from New York’s New School. Along the way, he benefited from the guidance of musicians including Brad Mehldau, Joanne Brackeen, Richard Goode and Sam Yahel. His own playing embraces the structural discipline of classical music while drawing on the harmonic imagination and rhythmic freedom of modern jazz. He has also performed and recorded with an impressive range of musicians, among them David Schnitter, Jorge Rossy, Ari Hoenig, Anat Cohen and Peter Bernstein.
The concept underpinning Circles, with every piece built around some circular element, is an intriguing one, but Taubenhouse never allows it to become an intellectual exercise. Instead, he explores the many ways music can return to familiar ground yet keep moving forward. Melodic motifs reappear in altered keys and harmonic progressions circle back to their starting points; rhythmic patterns set up a sense of recurrence that unexpected developments continually disrupt.
‘Above the Sky’ establishes the album’s thoughtful character, its recurring melody gradually revealing new harmonic dimensions. The title track is particularly absorbing: an unusual 13/16 metre provides an off-centre foundation for a melody that seems to turn in on itself. ‘Reminiscing’ turns reflective, shifting between major and minor as though revisiting memories whose emotional meaning changes with time. Meanwhile, ‘Mind Traps’ explores the tension between repetition and escape, with a persistent bass figure eventually opening into a liberating rhythmic transformation.
Thelonious Monk’s ‘Bye-Ya’ receives a wonderfully considered treatment, while Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Some Other Time’ is approached with tenderness and a subtle harmonic sophistication. Bud Powell’s ‘Oblivion’ provides another opportunity for the trio to demonstrate its command of bebop language without sacrificing its distinctive collective identity.
For me, though, it is the connection and interplay between the musicians that makes this recording so rewarding. Rosato’s bass is never merely an accompanying presence. Lippi has an instinctive understanding of when to propel the music forward and when to leave space for it to breathe. Taubenhouse listens as attentively as he leads. The three share a natural affinity that lets even the most intricate passages unfold organically. Their chemistry has been developing across Moments in Trio Volume One, Perpetuation and Roads; here it sounds especially assured.
There is also something quietly philosophical about Circles. Its music reflects the experience of returning to familiar places, people and memories, only to discover that we ourselves have changed in the process. The final composition, ‘Longing Forward’, captures that beautifully, moving through different tonal centres while retaining an intimate, searching quality. Taubenhouse and his companions have created something intelligent, finely realised and emotionally engaging. Circles is a reminder that sometimes the most interesting journeys are those that bring us back to where we began, perhaps with a little more understanding of the world around us."
—Mike Gates (November 2, 2026)
https://ukvibe.org/
