JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING

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I have to admit, I was expecting great things of Eon. In his work with Lookout Farm, Richie Beirach was one of the most consistently innovative keyboardists of the 70s, incorporating ideas from 20th Century classical music into jazz, without sacrificing one iota of swing.

Eon also features the great rhythm section of Frank Tusa on bass, and drummer Jeff Williams, both who played with Lookout Farm as well. Tusa is one of the great unsung heroes of the bass. He has a unique approach to the instrument, a beautiful tone, and a neverending supply of ideas. Williams is a very capable drummer.

But Eon was recorded in 1974, two years before the debut of Lookout Farm. In the intervening years, Beirach would substantially improve on his instrument, with crisper comping, more propulsive rhythm, a deeper sense of harmony, and even more soul.

Mind you, Eon is nothing to sneeze at.

Beirach imposes a rhythmic fragment over Miles Davis’ Nardis which allows him to extend the harmony of the tune and give it additional rhythmic drive. He reharmonizes the tune slightly and with taste. Beirach finds a number of new things to say about Nardis, which is a definite accomplishment. It’s just that he would have done this sort of thing even more boldly and fluidly in a few years time.

Similarly, Dave Liebman’s Places, a rubato exploration of melancholia, is consistently inventive, but can’t compete with anything from Forgotten Fantasies, the brilliant duo release from Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach.

And so it goes. Eon is never less than intelligent and creative. The music is well played. If I happened across Eon, I would seek out other recordings by Richie Beirach, even if I’d never heard of him before. The problem is that I have heard Beirach play much better elsewhere. The guy’s a monster. Check out any of the Lookout Farm recordings, or the duet recordings with Dave Liebman, or Beirach’s solo release masterpiece, Self Portraits, if you want to know what I mean.

Nonetheless, Eon is a very good piano trio album, and well worth owning.

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