Volume One

As people emerged tentatively from pandemic isolation in summer 2021, these three leading jazz talents scheduled a no-pressure recording session and exceeded their own expectations, with not one but two albums to show for their efforts. *Volume One* finds pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Brewer, and drummer Eric Harland eagerly diving into their own compositions, as well as a stimulating read of Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are.” Frank Kimbrough’s “Centering,” taken at a brighter tempo than Kimbrough played on his 2004 release, *Lullabluebye*, serves as a reverent tribute to a great role model who had passed tragically several months before the date. Parks’ contributions, “Greetings” and “Eleftheria,” sit well next to Brewer’s “Of Our Time” and “Aspiring to Normalcy” (which, despite its title, is not a pandemic song—it appeared on Brewer’s 2016 release, *Unspoken*, with Parks at the piano). Harland previously recorded his “Maiden” with Chris Potter, Dave Holland, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba (*Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival*). It sounds fresh as ever in a trio context, with Parks stretching the tonality and heightening the tune’s brooding tension.