Jangoo Chapkhana Trio

reviewed by Neville Cohn

 

Jangoo Chapkhana is as versatile as he is gifted. As organist, he has given recitals internationally. At the piano, he is a musician of distinction in both classical and jazz styles. His skill as choral conductor derives not least from studies in St Petersburg, Russia.

 

Here, in ensemble with Murray Wilkins (double bass) and Dennis Vrcic (drums), we can listen to styles both serious and light. This was recorded ‘live’ at Callaway Auditorium – and this brings an added frisson to the listening experience.

 

I rather think that J.S.Bach himself would have been chuffed at the JCT’s take on his Prelude in E minor from the ‘48’ which comes across as laidback, cool in the best sense with discreet backing from bass and drums, the music by degrees straying away from the original to more rhythmically diverse use of the notes which also of course underscores yet again the extraordinary adaptability of Bach’s ideas to all manner of treatments.

 

Something Special is delightfully laidback with a pleasingly buoyant sense of momentum.

 

In Here’s that Rainy Day, there’s splendid agility on double bass and on-from contributions from drums.

 

Thriving from a Rift is given stylistically impressive treatment which draws the listener ineluctably into Charlie Parker’s unique sound and mood world: great stuff, irresistibly rhythmical, compulsively listenable.

 

There’s a bittersweet quality in Feed the Birds with splendid clarity of piano tone.

 

Bernstein’s Cool is just that, Broadway-tinted music that calls West Side Story to mind. And the lazy, laidback mood of Nuages is conveyed to a nicety.