Pianist Jacky Terrasson, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Leon Parker, that is. I have no trouble declaring that this is one of the best jazz trios of the past 20 years. And they’re back — playing at Iridium in New York through this Sunday. They played the Jazz Standard last year, just after I returned from Iraq. I was in the midst of writing my travelogue; jazz was the furthest thing from my mind. My loss. Terrasson is playing as brilliantly as ever, and it’s a relief, because a few years ago I saw him play an aimless, truly disappointing set at the Village Vanguard, on an out-of-tune piano no less. For a while it wasn’t clear where Terrasson was heading. After three great albums for Blue Note with this trio in the mid to late ’90s, he became inconsistent. Now he’s spitting fire at the keyboard again, crafting superb arrangements with Okegwo and Parker, who come at swing from every angle and never fail to lock in. Their uptempo passes at “Autumn Leaves” and “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” were absolutely head-spinning. But pyrotechnics weren’t all — the dynamics and emotions were broad, the endings tight and clever. The music was well rehearsed, the energy anything but.
The album pictured above is worth hunting down. (My copy has a different cover.) It was recorded prior to Terrasson’s signing with Blue Note in 1994, and it showcases the T.O.P. trio to great effect, before they broke out. Oddly, it was recorded in Anglet, a nothing town in southwest France that happens to be the childhood home of an ex-girlfriend of mine. In fact, she and I traveled there together and visited her parents, exactly around the time I first absorbed Terrasson’s music. I had no idea.
[Update: Anglet may be dreary, but it’s very close to Biarritz and Bayonne and the astounding Pyrenees mountains, in France’s beautiful Basque region.]
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