Haiku

Most of Haiku, Joey Calderazzo's first set of unaccompanied piano solos, is thoughtful, lyrical, melodic, and a bit introspective. The music evolves at its own pace, is full of subtle surprises, and often sounds as if Calderazzo is thinking aloud. It differs from new age music in that Calderazzo's flights take unpredictable turns, he never sticks to just one preplanned one-chord vamp, and the results are quite heartfelt. The exceptions from the quiet music are the opening "Bri's Dance," which is quite high-powered and displays Calderazzo's impressive technique and ability to think fast; a quirky version of "Just One of Those Things" that keeps on changing its tempo; the happy stride of "Dancin' for Singles"; and a more concise but no less heated second version of "Bri's Dance." If Haiku had included more performances like these, it would have been a classic instead of being merely a brilliant set of restrained improvising.