# CD review: Tyshawn Sorey Trio – Continuing – 2023: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/07/06/cd-review-tyshawn-sorey-trio-continuing-2023-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2023-07-06T00:04:46+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Drummer and composer Tyshawn Sorey has been a leading light in the innovative 
contemporary jazz movement. His trio album Mesmerism (Pi Recordings) was a career
high, undoubtedly one of the best albums of 2022. Now, he returns alongside Matt
Brewer on bass and Aaron Diehl on piano for four non-originals. **

Continuing, which was recorded over two days, opens with Wayne Shorter’s “Reincarnation
Blues”, an assuredly crafted back-to-the-basics number stirred by convoluted piano
cascades near the end. Fairly softened here, this tune was made public by Art Blakey&
The Jazz Messengers, being the fourth track of the veneered drummer’s 1963 album
Buhaina’s Delight (Blue Note).

The 15-minute version of Ahmad Jamal’s “Seleritus” is elegantly mounted with a bass
pedal point, dreamy piano playing, and refined hi-hat and ride cymbal touches that
punctuate the whole with delicacy. There’s a certain modal intonation that is quite
alluring, but also this old-time ‘ballroom’ dynamics over which a stylish bass solo
takes place. The trio’s affinity for jazz tradition is on display, but Sorey dresses
this tune up with excellent tom-tom work by the end, with Diehl throwing in forceful
piano chords to pack a punch.

The slow motion returns with the ballad standard “Angel Eyes”. This 1946 composition
by Matt Denis gets a rubato treatment at the outset, acquiring a three-time feel
while sparingly ornamented with graceful piano and smoothly dragging brushes.

To conclude, the trio tackles Harold Mabern’s “In What Direction Are You Headed?”,
a lesser known tune by the late pianist which first appeared on trumpeter Lee Morgan’s
The Last Section (Blue Note). Expressed with élan, it is a groove-centered, funk-
meets-post-bop piece, which, including a vamping 14-beat cycle controlled by Brewer,
is turned motivically playful by Diehl’s skittering turns over the keyboard.

Although effective, as it revives old tunes (both widely known and unsung) that 
are extremely pleasing to the ear, this new trio session doesn’t match Mesmerism
in strength and magnetism.

1. Reincarnation Blues
 2. Seleritus 3. Angel Eyes 4. In What Direction

![Tyshawn Sorey Trio Continuing CD](https://i0.wp.com/propermusic.com/cdn/shop/files/
bdcdf8be5bb8e9eb500f6f66d7edbb08.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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