Album review: John Escreet - Seismic Shift

John Escreet (piano); Eric Revis (double bass); Damion Reid (drums)

John Escreet has lived and worked in America for something like fifteen years. For much of this time the Yorkshireman made New York his home, more recently relocating to Los Angeles. It was during pandemic lockdown out on the West Coast that pianist Escreet applied himself to rigorous practice on a recently acquired grand piano. The result, says Escreet: I essentially became a much better piano player. The results can be heard on this January 2022 recording.

Nine tracks with a total playing time of a little under fifty two minutes, Seismic Shift is Escreet's first album leading a trio. His sidemen on this session - bassist Eric Revis and drummer Damion Reid - just happen to be based in Los Angeles, making for a fortuitous meeting of like minds. Study No.1 opens in a tumult, Escreet's technique quite dazzling. The title track, number seven in the running order, is similarly dazzling, teaming with ideas, Revis and Reid more than up to the mark. Across the album of improvised sections, written parts, free playing, percussive piano, percussive drumming, an insistent bassline, lyrical elements, Escreet somehow manages to pull it altogether on this Whirlwind Recording. Russell       

Seismic Shift by John Escreet is available from Whirlwind Recordings (WR4793).