Bruce Barth has a reputation for being one of the more singer-friendly jazz pianists on the East Coast. Some jazz instrumentalists can be very myopic when it comes to singers; they go out of their way to avoid them. But
Barth has been good about accompanying singers, which is why everyone from
Kevin Mahogany to
LaVerne Butler to
Dominique Eade has employed him as a sideman. Nonetheless,
Barth is primarily an instrumentalist, and this CD is among the releases that finds him in a leadership role instead of an accompanist role. Recorded live at New York's famous Village Vanguard in August 2002, this post-bop/hard bop disc unites
Barth with bassist
Ugonna Okegwo and veteran drummer
Al Foster.
Barth's albums usually contain at least one or two pieces by
Thelonious Monk, and
Live at the Village Vanguard is no exception. On this CD,
Barth turns his attention to three
Monk compositions ("Let's Call This," "Evidence" and "San Francisco Holiday") as well as
Cole Porter's "In the Still of the Night" and some original material. But as much as
Barth obviously appreciates
Monk's writing, he doesn't sound a lot like him. As a soloist,
Barth actually has more in common with
Bill Evans,
Chick Corea,
Herbie Hancock and
Keith Jarrett. Nonetheless, he will, at times, acknowledge
Monk's angular style of playing during a solo--overall,
Evans and
Hancock are greater influences on
Barth's playing, but that doesn't mean that he can't have the occasional
Monk-ish moment when he's improvising.
Live at the Village Vanguard isn't groundbreaking;
Barth never pretended to be an innovator. But he's good at what he does and has his share of inspired moments on this solid, if derivative, outing. ~ Alex Henderson