He's young, he's musically savvy, and, especially, he knows how to play jazz. On his most recent CD, "Earth Stories", Cyrus Chestnut reveals the full range of his musical talent as both as a pianist and as a composer. Heading up a trio consisting of Steve Kirby on bass and Alvester Garnett on drums, Chestnut shows us his many musical strengths, as well as his few musical weakness.

First and foremost, "Earth Stories" showcases Chestnut's creativity as a jazz composer; nine of the CD's eleven tracks are Chestnut originals and one of the two remaining tracks is a rendition of the spiritual "In the Garden" arranged for solo piano by Chestnut. Chestnut's compositions reveal a thorough understanding of the jazz musical tradition in general, and of the jazz piano tradition in particular.

Right from the opening track, an up-beat bop entitled "Decisions, Decisions", one is struck by Chestnut's musical sense of humor. The eight measure head with which "Decisions, Decisions" begins is deceptively typical until Chestnut launches into an eight bar chordal development, followed by an eight bar mini-cadence ending on the dominant. Then, just when one expects the head to reappear, Chestnut throws in a six bar tag before reintroducing the main theme.

Chestnut's musical wit is particularly acute on "Gomez" and "Nutman's Invention #1." Both are works for solo piano reminiscent of the virtuostic and humorous style of the late Fats Waller, jazz's great tragic clown and father of stride piano. While reminiscent of the stride style, both "Gomez" and "Nutman's Invention #1" are unique in their own right. On "Gomez", Chestnut peppers the typical straight 4/4 stride accompaniment with accents on the up-beat, infusing the stride style with a Latin feel. Chestnut retains the straight 4/4 stride accompaniment in his left hand on "Nutman's Invention #1", but allows his right hand to draw upon melodic structures akin more to gospel and blues. This is one of Chestnut's greatest strengths as a musician: the ability to draw upon a wide range of diverse styles.

Even after listening to "Earth Stories" a dozen-odd times, I found myself constantly trying to guess who might have influenced Chestnut while composing a given piece. "My Song in the Night", a melodic jazz ballad played in a straight 4/4, reminded me of Horace Silver, due to the meter and the repeated octaves in the left hand. The rhythmic accents and swing tempo of "Marie's Folly" brought Ellington and Strayhorn to mind. But even while playing this guessing game, never did I lose sight of the fact that the music was Chestnut's own. Tune after tune, Chestnut pays homage to those who influenced his music without allowing his music to diminish into mere imitation.

Even the two blues tracks on "Earth Stories" are wildly diverse. The first, "Grandma's Blues", is a straight blues ballad in G played in a jagged, almost rural style. The second, "Blues from the East", which switches between major and minor keys, sounds as much like a gospel hymn as it does the blues. Yet again, we witness Chestnut drawing upon diverse musical styles, in this case hearkening back to the two musical genres which laid the foundation upon which jazz was built: blues and gospel. Chestnut's gospel roots truly surface on "Cooldaddy's Perspective", a no-nonsense groove track for which the trio is joined by Eddie Allen, Antonio Hart, and Steven Carrington on trumpet, alto saxophone, and tenor saxophone respectively.

With such accolades, where could Chestnut's musical weaknesses lie? The answer is in his pianism. Chestnut tends to sacrifice speed for articulation. This is particularly evident on up-tempos. On "Decisions, Decisions", for example, while the overall shape of Chestnut's improvisational ideas comes through, individual notes are lost. As a result, Chestnut's phrasing is ambiguous at best, or altogether non-existent at worst.

Does this detract at all from "Earth Stories"? Slightly. But I would sooner focus on all that Chestnut has accomplished than harp on this one draw-back. Jazz is an American tradition, a tradition which has at times been thought to be on the wane. We are fortunate enough now to be witnessing a resurgence of young musicians playing in the jazz tradition, carrying the jazz torch for another generation. The thirty-two-year-old Cyrus Chestnut is among the most gifted of this new generation of jazz players. He is as much a crusader bringing jazz to new ears as he is a musician. One can hardly imagine what new and interesting ideas Chestnut will harvest in the decades to come. "Earth Stories" is a fine testament to the jazz talent that is Cyrus Chestnut.

As published in Good Times, July 16, 1996.
© 1996 by Michael L. Maliner. All rights reserved.