Jerusalem Trilogy

Album review

« The program in its entirety represents a new kind of chamber music, one that fuses together different but compatible musical styles, combines written music with improvisation, and is centered around a jazz trio that plays classical music. This group and this program present an innovative concept of the future of chamber music, where I believe it is inevitably heading.» Matt Herskowitz

American Pianist-composer Matt Herskowitz who has living in Montreal since 1999, pilots a seamless cross-genre journey with his trio —formerly billed as MaD Fusion— which he forms with Mat Fieldes (bass) and David Rozenblatt (drums). Blending elements of classical (Polonaise Libanaise, Prokofiev's Revenge), rock (the Bad Plus-influenced Crossbones) and jazz, Herskowitz exhibits his commanding keyboard skills and improvisational daring throughout. The centerpiece is his three-movement Jerusalem Trilogy where the Matt Herskowitz Trio is joined by the violinist Lara St. John and the cellist Mike Block, though his most affecting pieces are the moving Gottingen, with Bassam Saba on Middle Eastern nay and oud, and the intimate Duologue on Under Your White Starry Heaven, written for violinist St. John and cellist Block. This is an album that will appeal to lovers of classical music and jazz.