Sometimes the most fearless path to take is the most simple. This debut CD from pianist Gilad Barkan offers an example of an artist working with simple, sometimes very familiar materials and creating subtle, nuanced music that deepens with each listening. Of one of the four "covers" on Modulation, Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance," and its oblique chord progressions, Gilad says, "It's like you're going on a trip, and it's a fun trip. Some tunes, like 'I Got Rhythm,' go around in a circle and other tunes go on a path through the woods. 'Dolphin Dance' is one of those tunes that's like a long path."
That same can be said of Gilad's own writing. First, there is his innate sense of sturdy, affecting melodies. Listen to the opening "Paul's Groove." Beginning with Dan Greenspan's bass introduction, that quickly moves into a grounding ostinato, the sprightly tune wends its way through all manner of rhythmic and harmonic variations, never losing sight of the groove.
Gilad, born in 1973, grew up in Israel listening to the jazz his father played on records and the '60s American folk that his mother sang and played at the piano. His studies at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music eventually lead him to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he hooked up with another Israeli, the guitarist Issi Rozen. The two have played together since 1992 (Gilad can be heard on Rozen's 2000 Brownstone release, Homeland Blues). Since graduating, Gilad has made his way in the Boston jazz scene working with Rozen and others, but mostly in the manner of many jazz pianists before him . playing solo in hotel lounges. Of this CD, Gilad says, "My idea was primarily to get together with Dan and Harvey and have fun. Secondly, I wanted them to help me give life to my compositions in way beyond what I could do as a solo pianist."
It's easy to hear that Gilad has succeeded. The songful, swinging approach of "Paul's Groove" informs every track here, no matter the mood or tempo. And the ensemble plays like a long-time working band even though the three had never played together before this recording . Gilad had worked with drummer Harvey Wirht in Rozen's band, and with bassist Dan Greenspan in duo and trio gigs. The natural antecedent for the kind of airborne lyricism and interplay the group achieves is the Bill Evans trio, to which Gilad makes a conscious nod with Evans's classic "Waltz for Debby."
Recalls Gilad, "Issi told me, 'That's a piano player's tune, if you're going to do it, you have to do something different,' and I said, 'No, I'm just going to play it,' do my own thing and see how it comes out. And I think we did something interesting." What's remarkable is how well the band pulls it off . the delicacy of Evans's famous version with his 1961 trio is transformed as Gilad digs into the melody and fashions one fleet, long-lined phrase after another, the group as a whole maintaining a remarkably loose, swinging waltz rhythm.
For Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol's "Caravan," Gilad did take a different approach, setting up a tricky cross-rhythm with a ferocious left-hand ostinato. "Dan thought we couldn't pull it off," recalls Gilad with an easy laugh, "because I couldn't play the melody and the bass line at the same time. But I insisted we were going to do it, so I had to practice it for a couple of weeks." In fact, the band had to sit down and work out the math of how they'd all come out together on the beat. Again, the result was a unique performance of one of the hoariest standards in the book. "I love what Harvey does on it," says Gilad. "His solo is so open and wild. That's why I kept that take. When he trades with Dan, he does things where I don't know how or what he's doing . I can't even count the time, but it ends up perfect."
Some of Gilad's own tunes on Modulation date from his Berklee days. "Paul's Groove," for instance, was written for his class with former Berklee piano department chairman Paul Schmeling . an exercise in writing an original groove. Gilad approached the writing of the melody through an atonal procedure he learned from the pianist and teacher Tim Ray, avoiding repeated pitches so as to create a more varied line. Most often, though, Gilad's pieces are inspired by his personal relationships, as is obvious from titles like "Affection" and the poignant album closer "This Is Love," as well as the sunny 3/4 bossa nova "Amaravati Devi Is Getting Married" (which was written for Gilad's mother.)
As regards composition in general, Gilad says, "I try to sing the melodies . whatever comes out . and the harmony comes right after the melody. But then the harmony will lead the melody in a different direction, so they play off each other, weaving together, going back and forth."
Perhaps that accounts for the free flow and organic form of each of the pieces, the way his lovely melodies unfold in the arrangements and improvisations. What Gilad says about "Waltz for Debby" applies to the album as a whole: "I picked tunes that I like to play, and what happens happens. I trusted those musicians to play something new." Gilad also recalls what he learned from his early listening to Keith Jarrett after becoming infatuated with the music of John Coltrane. "I learned that you can transfer what John Coltrane did on saxophone to piano, or at least you can shoot for it. You don't have to be limited by your instrument. If it's coming from inside, vocally, then it doesn't matter what your instrument is."
