Escape Velocity

Canadian pianist Andrew Czink released his first solo CD, Escape Velocity, in 1998. Since he is a co-director of Earsay Productions (www.earsay.com), the album was released there, but it stands out of the label's usual electro-acoustic productions. Escape Velocity is all solo piano. "Extreme piano," states the booklet, but the meaning of this term remains unexplained and the music provides no clue. The six pieces on this CD have been written out of improvisations. Highly structured, they are performed with large amounts of energy. Czink uses the bass notes a lot, giving him a round sound somewhat reminiscent of Keith Tippett, even though the latter's jazz references are excluded here. The pianist remains surprisingly tonal and melodies appear frequently; this aspect of his music links him to Californian pianist Ernesto Diaz-Infante, but also to Marilyn Crispell's work during the 1980s. Tonal doesn't equal simple, and Czink plays with a bewitching sense of urgency: speed, volume, stamina. At times it seems things go too fast and there are too many notes for him to be really human; maybe there was a certain amount of studio manipulation and audio recomposition, which would explain the somewhat larger than life resonance he gets from the piano. If this is the case, it is done seamlessly and with impeccable art. The two parts of "Strange Attractor" make a powerful piece, built on a simple motif that could be found in just about any standard instrumental piano piece. "Surfaces & Depths" is a huge gradual dive into the lower register of the piano. The CD ends with "Organic Delirium," a self-explanatory title. This is an impressive debut. ~ François Couture, Rovi