'Looking Glass' featured on France Musique →

Jazz Trotter : Theo Walentiny - Looking Glass

Publié le mardi 11 mai 2021 à 11h21

Le jeune pianiste Theo Walentiny est considéré comme “la” révélation new-yorkaise. Il sort un premier album solo, le kaléidoscopique “Looking Glass”.

Theo Walentiny, © theowalentiny.com

“Looking Glass” présente des improvisations en solo inspirées des icônes du piano que sont Keith Jarrett et Paul Bley, ainsi que du compositeur contemporain de Toru Takemitsu et de la puissance poétique de “Mingus Plays Piano”. 

Le pianiste de Brooklyn Theo Walentiny a créé un univers d'introspection musicale et d'émotion avec son premier album solo, “Looking Glass”. "Mon objectif était de mettre l'accent sur l'improvisation brute et non préparée, sans aucun matériel préconçu", explique le pianiste de 24 ans. "Entrer dans un état de flux subconscient est quelque chose que j'aspire souvent à atteindre - donc, dans un sens, c'était la clé de ma préparation pour la session. Le titre de l'album, qui provient de la première composition, représente l'idée que les morceaux eux-mêmes sont une feuille de verre qui reflète deux mondes - l'un étant mon moi conscient et l'autre mon état subconscient. J'espère qu'en révélant mon moi musical dans un état subconscient de vulnérabilité, l'album pourra également aider les auditeurs à mieux se connaître. Pour moi, la musique la plus puissante est celle qui vous transporte - et c'est mon objectif pour l'auditeur. La pandémie que nous vivons tous a inévitablement conduit à une plus grande introspection pour la plupart d'entre nous. Je sais que, pour moi, créer en solo peut être une échappatoire puissante." 

Theo Walentiny - qui dirige également l'Aurelia Trio avec le bassiste Nick Dunston et le batteur Connor Parks, tout en composant pour son septet et en créant sa propre musique électronique - a enregistré “Looking Glass” dans le sous-sol d'une maison de Bethlehem, en Pennsylvanie. Le piano utilisé pour la session, un Steinway modèle B, avait appartenu au saxophoniste Dave Liebman lorsqu'il vivait à New York dans les années 1970, à l'époque de la scène des lofts, et des personnalités telles que Chick Corea et Richie Beirach l’avaient utilisé. "Dès que j'ai joué la première note", se souvient Theo Walentiny, "j'ai su qu'il s'agissait d'un instrument spécial - je me sentais presque électrifié." 

“Looking Glass” s'est déjà attiré les louanges de quelques personnalités estimables, non seulement du pianiste-compositeur Vijay Iyer ("La musique de Theo éclate d'émotions riches et complexes... juxtapositions éblouissantes de sauvagerie et de tendresse"), mais aussi du saxophoniste Oliver Lake : "Les compositions et les improvisations de Theo sont des œuvres d'inspiration soigneusement élaborées - son approche créative du temps, de l'espace et de la dynamique est incroyable". Parmi les points forts de “Looking Glass”, citons la dramatique ouverture Fanfare for the Looking Glass et la poétique évocatrice Behind Tall Grass, ainsi que les abstractions dynamiques de Film I et Of Worlds Other Than.  

À propos de certaines de ses influences en matière de piano solo, Theo Walentiny cite le “Köln Concert” de Keith Jarrett et “Open, To Love” de Paul Bley, ainsi que “Mingus Plays Piano” de Charles Mingus. "Je n'ai jamais essayé d'imiter consciemment l'un de ces albums pour “Looking Glass”, même si chacun d'entre eux a contribué à ma sonorité et à ma sensibilité au fil des ans, en particulier lorsqu'il s'agit de jouer en solo", explique Theo Walentiny. "La façon dont Jarrett a créé de longues narrations et des mondes musicaux uniques sur le “ Köln Concert”, c'est comme s'il entrait dans un état de transe où la musique se joue toute seule. C'est en partie son travail en solo qui m'a inspiré les longs sets improvisés en solo. “Open, To Love” de Bley démontre sa profonde connexion avec l'instrument, et la façon dont il travaille avec l'harmonie et le temps produit un son d'un autre monde. Quant à “Mingus Plays Piano”, j'ai grandi en écoutant cet album dès mon plus jeune âge. Je me souviens avoir trouvé le CD qui traînait chez moi et avoir été époustouflé par les premières notes de Myself When I am Real, comme je le suis encore aujourd'hui. L'écoute de Mingus sur cet enregistrement m'a montré ce qui était possible pour le piano et l'esprit humain - un moyen de communiquer plus puissant que les mots. C'est quelque chose à quoi il faut aspirer." 

'Fanfare for the Looking Glass' featured on Apple Music's 'Outer Orbits' Playlist →

Editors’ Notes Improvisation and experimentation from artists who explore music's outer reaches. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Jazz Album Reviews: Pianists Masabumi Kikuchi and Theo Walentiny — Poetic Solo Flights →

APRIL 13, 2021

By Steve Feeney

Two albums, from a late master and a newbie, are notable additions the current wave of introspective solo piano excursions.

Masabumi Kikuchi, Hanamichi – The Final Studio Recording. Red Hook Records

Theo Walentiny, Looking Glass. Available from Bandcamp 

The mostly improvised solo piano recordings just keep on coming. Two more, from a late master and a newbie, add distinction to the form.

For health reasons, Miles Davis stepped off the public stage in the mid-’70s. A number of his followers, including me, desperately wanted to support the searing edge he had given so-called fusion music. We were not interested in accepting the broader, softer dynamics of lesser artists. Masabumi Kikuchi (1939-2015) was one of those who temporarily purveyed that tougher fix. The pianist was already a star in Japan, and he seemed to know just where the astringent Miles-ian goodies were to be found.

Eventually, the fusion center could not hold and jazz went off in a number of different directions. As the ‘80s came and went, the keyboardist’s name popped up occasionally here and there, mostly in acoustic settings that fans of Kikuchi knew were outgrowths of his early career working with local and international stars.

To my mind, Kikuchi fully (re)emerged in the bands in which he performed alongside drummer Paul Motian. In their recordings, the pianist conveyed an insinuating intimacy that elevated the material. The occasional audible growls he emitted as he worked the acoustic keyboard suggested he was bringing music to life in an almost primal way.

Now we have what is claimed to be the pianist’s final studio recording, Hanamichi (literally: “flower path”), a muscularly probing, deeply moving solo acoustic recital from 2013.

Among the six cuts, “Ramona,” a classic melody from the’20s, offers an opportunity to appreciate the pianist’s affinity to the kind of cagey modernist engagement practiced by Thelonious Monk. Like Monk (and a few others), Kikuchi knew how to be gleamingly contemporary yet still cultivate an old time feeling.

Gershwin’s “Summertime,” the longest piece on the disc, rolls out slowly, like that warm day when people (at least New Englanders) sense that this is the one to remember as you slog through the upcoming January cold. But an ominous melancholy is intimated in the way the pianist hangs onto the salient phraseology. Will we ever really, as the unheard lyrics imply, “rise up singing” and “spread our wings”? Kikuchi’s wordless vocalizing suggests that there is a struggle ahead.

Two takes on the perennial “My Favorite Things” interweave light and dark: we are given the chance to savor the enchanting melody before mordant ruminations set in. Singing with his hands, the pianist tells us about the “Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.” The second version’s reflection begins more gently, more searching, and then meanders a bit before arriving at a pensive endpoint.

Two Kikuchi originals conclude the disc (too soon, forever too soon). “Improvisation” hangs in the air, a flood of notes rushing from the passionate fingers of a man grasping to make the most of his expressive potential. “Little Abi,” dedicated to the pianist’s daughter, is a ballad whose lovely harmonies communicate a poignant affection. We should all have such a beautiful song written for us.

Solo improvisation is also the key to the vision of pianist Theo Walentiny, who claims to have been at it since he was six years old. Citing Keith Jarrett and Paul Bley as important influences, the 20-something received formal training at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York. He works in various formats, but particularly welcomes the chance to be a soloist who is into “personifying imagination through sound.”

Not grounded in standards, as is much of the work of Kikuchi above, Walentiny’s art is somewhat opaquer and perhaps more distant, at least at first listen. But hang on, there’s considerable substance here.

Walentiny is more a creator of moods than musical structures, and they tend toward the demanding end of the spectrum. Much like Jarrett, he seems to spontaneously happen upon sweet spots that are usually worth waiting for.

“Film I” and “Film II” offers soundtracks for whatever images you can conjure up (with the pianist’s help). Emotionally complex and poetic, their evocations of mystery are broken up by bursts of immediate alarm. When “II” begins, the feeling is like coming back from the snack bar and finding that all hell has broken loose onscreen.

His “Behind Tall Grass” seems to seek for a comforting resolution — but doesn’t quite get there. “Grey They Billow,” like the title tune, generates nuanced lyricism out of contemplation.

The Big Takeover Magazine Reviews 'Looking Glass' →

Theo Walentiny - Looking Glass (self-released)

5 April 2021

by Michael Toland

Brooklyn pianist Theo Walentiny leads an eponymous sextet, plays with singer Arta Jëkabsone, and co-leads the Aurelia Trio, but Looking Glass is his first solo performance album. In the grand tradition of albums by Keith Jarrett and Paul Bley, the ivory-tickler went into the studio with nothing prepared, casting his fate to the improvisational winds. It’s a risky move for even the most experienced improvisational musician, but it pays off for Walentiny. 

The influence of romantic and impressionist classical music clearly shines through here, as Walentiny lays down spontaneous, introspective melodies that flit between overtly tuneful and abstract. But his admitted love for Charles Mingus’ Mingus Plays Pianoinfuses him with a grounding in instinctual moves, giving his playing an unpredictability that prevents these performances from sounding like a recital. With decades of training in both classical music and jazz, his technique handles anything he can throw at himself, from the dramatic chordwork of “Film I” to the minimalist fingerings of “Grey They Billow” to the twisting turns of “The Everlasting Rain Moves.” Fans of musicians exploring the edges of their own talent without a net will definitely find a new hero here.

London Jazz News Reviews 'Looking Glass' →

Theo Walentiny – Looking Glass  

(Available from Bandcamp . Album review by Tony Dudley-Evans)

The pandemic has led, perhaps unsurprisingly, to a significant increase in the number of solo piano albums.  A month or so ago I reviewed an excellent solo album by Jason Moran on my website, and just a few days ago I reviewed on LJN an album by the Norwegian pianist Kjetil Mulelid (links below).

Theo Walentiny is a young graduate from the New School in New York.  He acknowledges a strong influence from Keith Jarrett, especially the Köln Concert.  He also mentions Paul Bley and his Open to Love album, and Mingus’ solo piano album, Mingus Plays Piano.The album has 7 tracks, six a little short of 10 minutes in length and one just over 10 minutes.  

The first two tracks,  Fanfare for the Looking Glass and The Everlasting Rain Moves set the mood for the album; both have a very strong narrative with the music developing through a series of arcs.  One certainly hears the influence of Keith Jarrett, but there is also something of the playing of Cecil Taylor.  In a note about the music, Walentiny talks of how he likes when he plays to enter ‘a subconscious flow state’, and there is undoubtedly a flow and a coherence about the music. There is also a lot of variety; Behind Tall Grass, for example,is a slower, more contemplative track.

Walentiny has an interest in scoring for films, and there are two tracks with the titles Film I and Film II.  The music does not come across as sounding like a film score, but in his notes Walentiny talks of how he envisages Film 1 being about a memory that leads a couple to reflect on their relationship.  Similarly, Grey They Billow reflects black and white images of pieces of fabric blown in the wind.  These images come across strongly in the gentle, minimalist second half of the piece.

This is a fine album and Walentiny is a young artist whom I look forward to hearing more of.

'Looking Glass' featured in El Intruso [Argentina] →

Theo Walentiny debuta como solista en Looking Glass

BREVARIO6 de febrero de 2021

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El promisorio pianista, compositor e improvisador estadounidense Theo Walentiny,con la próxima edición del álbum que lleva por título Looking Glass, hará su debut discográfico como solista ofreciendo una serie de improvisaciones a solo piano.

En la propuesta materializada por Walentiny se yuxtaponen influencias provenientes de álbumes emblemáticos para piano solo comoThe Köln Concert (1975) de Keith Jarrett y Open, To Love (1972) de Paul Bley, vestigios de modernismo heredados del inolvidable compositor japonés Tōru Takemitsu y la poética introspección que esgrimiera Charles Mingus en su legendario disco de 1964 Mingus Plays Piano.

Su formación académica engloba clases privadas con el pianista de jazz Oscar Pérez, la asistencia al New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music -donde tuvo como maestros a Reggie Workman, Jane Ira Bloom y Kirk Nurock-, participaciones en el Jazz House Kids, el NJPAC Jazz for Teens y The Banff International Jazz Workshop y estudios propios sobre las obras desarrolladas por Andrew Hill, Cecil Taylor, Tyshawn Sorey, Cory Smythe, Tōru Takemitsu y Henri Dutilleux, entre otros.

Theo Walentiny es miembro fundador del colectivo Aurelia Trio, banda que conjuga elementos de jazz, música clásica contemporánea e improvisación libre.

La discografía del trío, que completan el contrabajista Nick Dunston y el baterista Connor Parks, incluye a los álbumes Aurelia Trio de 2016 y Spattered Current de 2018.

Además, lidera una formación de septeto -donde se abarcan influencias que van del impresionismo al jazz moderno- en la que participan el multi-instrumentista Jasper Dutz, el trompetista Adam O’Farrill, la trombonista Kalia Vandever, el guitarrista Lee Meadvin, el contrabajista Nick Dunston y el baterista Connor Parks.

La producción de Walentiny también comprende la edición de un álbum en dúo con el guitarrista Lee Meadvin (Endless Other de 2020), composiciones para la banda Secret Mall y el artista interdisciplinario Chester Vicente Toye y aportes como sesionista a favor de la cantante Elora Lin en Hello Crow’, la trombonista Kalia Vandever en In Bloom y la vocalista Arta Jekabsone en Light.

Otros de sus intereses principales son la realización de demos orquestales, música para películas, cortometrajes, series de televisión y comerciales, música ambiental en teclados y una activa contribución como compositor en la Speak Low Sync Library con sede en la ciudad de Beijing. 

El álbum Looking Glass comprende siete piezas para piano solo, improvisadas en estudio, con la firma de Theo Walentiny: Fanfare for the Looking Glass, The Everlasting Rain Moves, Behind Tall Grass, Film I, Film II, Grey Day Below y Of Worlds Other Than.

El piano utilizado por Walentiny en la sesión donde se registró el material fue un Steinway Model B que perteneció al saxofonista Dave Liebman durante la era del loft jazz neoyorquino de los años setenta y ha sido empleado en grabaciones por notables pianistas como Chick Corea y Richie Beirach, entre otros.

El lanzamiento del álbum Looking Glass ha sido anunciado para el venidero 2 de abril y estará disponible en formato digital y también mediante una edición limitada en CD.