Cyrus Chestnut

Cyrus Chestnut – There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 59:58 minutes | 1,16 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © HighNote Records

A decorated veteran of the Betty Carter Trio, pianist Cyrus Chestnut came out the experience relatively unscathed with a style and directive clearly his own. It’s one steeped in the gospel church traditions of his native Baltimore, but also enlivened by an open ear aimed at a multitude of other influences. He has enjoyed stints with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Vanessa Williams, Freddie Hubbard and Joe Lovano. He also speaks fondly of his valuable tenures with vocalists Jon Hendricks and Joe Williams. With the fleetness of Bud Powell and his own distinctive two-handed lushly impressionistic harmonies, Cyrus offers an imaginative setlist with his long-time friends Buster Williams and Lenny White and together they breathe new life into the vernerable jazz piano trio format.

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Cyrus Chestnut – Natural Essence (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:03:14 minutes | 1,26 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © HighNote Records

From his emergence in the mid-Eighties to the present, pianist Cyrus Chestnut has declared himself a committed stylist completely infatuated with his instrument and the art he’s sworn allegiance to, jazz. Chestnut has consistently shown himself an improviser of rare ingenuity and grace, yet what most distinguishes him from other gifted pianists of our era may be the sheer pleasure that radiates from all that he plays. While the characteristic cheer that Chestnut displays on “Natural Essence” can be attributed to his undiminished vigor and attentiveness, the presence of his notable cohorts also contributes to the leader’s focus. With the dynamic Lenny White on drums and the redoubtable Buster Williams on bass Cyrus & company breathe new life and vitality into that most venerable of jazz ensemble formats, the piano trio.

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Cyrus Chestnut – Kaleidoscope (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:05:59 minutes | 1,16 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © HighNote Records

The jazz piano trio, a specialism with its own lineage and admirers, is currently alive and well thanks to the artists here on KALEIDOSCOPE. A keyboard master such as Cyrus Chestnut can imbue this tried-and-true format -whose practitioners range from Jelly Roll Morton to Robert Glasper – with a relevance for today’s listeners and expand its parameters without losing sight of its historic past. For this recording Cyrus has arranged 8 compositions by the classical pianists W.A. Mozart, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Eric Satie, taking the classical themes through a series of rhythmic and harmonic turns and twists and subjecting them to a wildly innovative series of transformations. Through it all Cyrus Chestnut emerges as a multi-faceted artist who, using the venerable jazz piano trio format, can refract the past through his own imagination and create something new which is always fresh and exciting.

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Cyrus Chestnut – My Father’s Hands (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 48:53 minutes | 966 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © HighNote Records

There have been a number of famous jazz artists whose offspring have followed their father’s footsteps into music. Think only of Ellis Marsalis and his sons, Dewey and Joshua Redman, Papa John and Joey DeFrancesco, Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Walter and Nicholas Payton and Harry Connick Senior & Junior. But for every famous father in jazz there are an unknowable number of fathers who inspired and nurtured their progeny’s talent from the sidelines and encouraged them to go into music and pursue their dreams. Such a man was McDonald Chestnut whose internationally renowned son, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, remembers his dad with this touching memorial, My Father’s Hands. By carefully choosing a wide range of repertoire – including originals, standards and jazz classics – and with the great bassist Peter Washington and the legendary Lewis Nash on drums, Cyrus has crafted not just an intensely personal reminiscence but a truly beautiful jazz album in all respects. The material is strong, the sequencing uniquely satisfying and the performances display a unity of conception and execution that can only be called remarkable. Top it off with the exceptional recording quality and you have not only another fabulous jazz record, but a lasting and moving tribute to a father from his son.

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