Hidden
Lament
Song Noir
Bernstein Fantasie
Lineage
Ammedea
Meta
Spuren
The Pablo Held Trio specialises in allusion. The elliptical elements that course throughout the length of its latest eight-track, 45-minute disc, do
nothing to suggest that the sideways glancing look, classical echo and sense of internalised expression are on the wane. On the contrary. Hidden
exemplifies the approach, where hard-to-pin-down stylistic allegiances are allied to some propulsive rhythmic playing but where nothing is ever
straightforward. Held’s ruminative pianism is always invigorating because one knows he will crank up both tempo and mood but will never descend to obvious
gestures. This a trio with a mind of its own.
Some might well detect an overriding classicism. However, when Held does get aboard the jazz wagon, as on Lament when he finally drives the tempo,
it’s via canny rhythmic figures that certainly counter-balance Held’s more prolix enthusiasms elsewhere. Yet I suppose it’s the ultimate formality of
Held’s pianism that will prove a sticking point for the more florid jazz lover, who may find his crystalline restraint enervating. That may well be the
case in the Francophile-titled Song Noir but the more sympathetic listener will note that the use of metrics, tempo variation and alternation of
denser and clearer palettes lends this trio its special distinction.
Sometimes even an admirer, such as me, finds Held frustrating. Lineage is slow and again elusive, though its essential, lyricism is obvious. What
is less clear is whether, harmonically, the music goes anywhere. To me it circles about very elegantly, but never clarifies. Meta is better, its
impressionist writing played off against the occasional temperamental outburst and Spuren just as interesting, where the sense of linear space the
three men generate prefaces a darting, cagey series of improvised lines.
Plenty to think about then, with this latest trio recording where instrumental finesse is allied to a certain withdrawn, classically-inspired ethos.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
