Vincent Lyn (pno); Melissa Aldana (ten); Pablo Menares (bs); Shirazette Tinnin (perc).
Vincent Lyn, I'm told, has been a movie star, pop music icon, kickboxing champion and one of the hottest male models in the world. But what, the blurb goes on, makes him complete is practising his family's Ling Gar style of kung fu. Jackie Chan called him "One of the best fighters I have ever worked with." A Ph.D in martial arts as well as a few kickboxing world titles in the 1980s is surely enough to prevent band members (and critics) saying "You played a bum note Vince!"
On the strength of this album, recorded last year at Carnegie Hall, such a scenario is unlikely to arise.
Despite his parallel universe activities, as a pianist he displays a rare sensitivity that totally captivated the Carnegie crowd (his second appearance there with a third to follow). Technique without flamboyance. Apart from Lyn's original compositions we have Beethoven's Sonata in Eb as well as the Sonata in C Minor, Claire de Lune intertwined with Flamenco Sketches, Oliver Nelson's Stolen Moments, Grover Washington's Make Me a Memory, Legrand's What Are You Doing the Rest of my Life? and Amor Por Favor. The classical pieces are relatively straight readings yet do not lose the jazzy feel whilst on the others he can swing with the best of them.
However, seeing as we have the Atlantic Ocean between us, I can safely say that what did it for me was Melissa Aldana's tenor playing - the icing on a very digestible cake! The 25 year old, Chilean born tenor player, gets that Mobley/Joe Henderson Blue Note tenor sound. Dry and crisp like Scotch on the rocks. Last year she won the Thelonious Monk Saxophone award - the first female to do so - the future looks good for her. If it doesn't work out she could take up kickboxing but I doubt if the need will arise!
Vincent Lyn - Live in New York City is available on Budo Records.
Lance.
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