Three reviews from AllAboutJazz on Dave Frank’s Portrait Of New York
”Jazz and New York are like hot dogs and baseball, or peanut butter and jelly. The Big Apple has been the epicenter of so many important movements and moments in jazz, that it’s hard to think of any other place—save perhaps New Orleans—that deserves the honor of being captured in song. Pianist Dave Frank, widely recognized as a premier jazz educator and performer, pays tribute to New York with solo piano paintings of various streets and locales, and four reworked standards, on Portrait Of New York.
Frank’s steady and creative left-hand lines—juxtaposed against a right hand that can be alternately relaxed or off-the-charts fast—is his calling card. A strong blues-affinity resides within his creations, but his ability to modernize older forms with slight abstractions—be it an altered chord progression or oddly angular intervals in his steady bass lines—is what makes this music so engaging. “Full Force NYC” opens the album and Frank’s right hand seems to represent the hustle and bustle of New York life, as he throws out some jaw dropping runs. “Broadway Boogie-Woogie” is a bit more traditional in nature, but Frank’s faster-than-usual take on “Perdido” breaths some fresh air into that well-worn classic.
While most of the originals refer to places, Frank does pay tribute to two piano giants with “McKenna/McCoy.” The forward momentum found on this particular piece makes it a winner, though it never hints at the percussive power in McCoy Tyner’s playing. Frank’s slow, bluesy-woozy “Lower East Side Shuffle” is a real treat, though this track could have also benefited from some heavy-handed heft.
While Frank’s flashier tendencies occasionally come to the fore during the more excitable songs, he proves to be a masterful ballad sculptor as well. Pangs of sadness, loss and regret come through on his emotionally reflective performance of “This Nearly Was Mine.” Mysterious melodic threads are sewn in the upper regions of the piano as “My Man’s Gone Now” begins. Some depression sets into the music and rubato rears it’s head here, though this track eventually takes on a more defined rhythmic direction than the Richard Rodgers tune. Frank’s own “Manhattan Moonlight” is pretty and classy, in an unassuming way.
Portrait Of New York paints a wonderful picture of solo piano possibilities and Manhattan-themed melodies, but it also serves as a portrait of Dave Frank…one of the most creative pianists around today.”
Dan Bilawsky (AllAboutJazz)
***
“New York-based Dave Frank is a piano style unto himself. With the most solid left hand playing jazz piano, Frank delights in composing and improvising the most devilish bass lines, defying Einstein’s rule governing space and time. Frank’s last recording, Ballads and Burners (Jazzheads, 2007), amply demonstrated why Frank has a Jazz School named for him.
Frank joins Alex Levin and his recent New York Portraits (Self Produced, 2010) in paying homage to the Cultural Center of the United States. Frank honors NYC with more originals than Levin, one being the slickly serpentine “Bowery Blues,” which is, indeed a blues, but one from the Dave Frank Universe, where nothing is as it seems. Frank opens the piece with a complex walking bass line that evolves beyond the twelve bars trying to contain it. Once established, Frank applies his right hand to building a picture of New York piano, from stride to Cecil Taylor. Frank’s right hand freely improvises to the logical conclusion the blues always reaches: a consonant coda.”
Michael Bailey (AllAboutJazz)
***
“Twelve tunes inspired by or dedicated to the city of New York come together to form Portrait Of New York, only the fourth album by ex-Berklee Professor Dave Frank in a career as a musician and educator that stretches back to the ’80s. Why Frank’s recorded ouvre should be so brief is something of a mystery, based on the evidence on Portrait Of New York. He may not be pushing the envelope, but this is a quite beautiful album: a fresh approach to some great standards and a bunch of impressive originals, all encapsulated in a performance of great warmth and humor.
An obvious aspect of Frank’s playing—one that gives it character and distinctiveness—is the vital role of his left hand. It gives his lower register playing a rhythmic intensity that goes beyond most players and does much more than simply flesh out the sound or provide a foundation from which the right hand can build: and it does so on the ballads as well as on the up-tempo, boogie-style, tunes.
This distinctive left hand is used to great effect on two of the slower numbers: Frank’s own “Lower East Side Shuffle” and “Midtown 9AM.” The latter tune is absolutely delightful, the left hand pattern rolling gracefully along as Frank’s tinkling, sprightly, right hand conjures up a busy but rather laid back midtown morning. The “Lower East Side Shuffle” is a more syncopated affair, slinkier and sexier, the bass patterns rich and full-sounding.
The covers are inspired. “Full Force NYC” is a Frank original, but it borrows heavily—and at times quite obviously—from Victor Schertzinger and Johnny Mercer’s “Tangerine.” He toys playfully with Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz’s “You and the Night and the Music,” building up its foundations with another solid left-hand rhythm, shifting the tempo, subtly altering the mood with his right hand playing. Richard Rogers’ “This Nearly Was Mine” is given a respectfully straight, but beautifully nuanced treatment. Juan Tizol’s “Perdido” rushes past in a dazzling display of precise but sparkling playing.
Frank’s vocal interjections add yet more distinctiveness to his playing. These are not the random interpolated grunts of a Keith Jarrett or an Oscar Peterson: Frank hums snatches of the melody as he plays. It’s an oddly likable quirk, generally adding to the humanity of the performance rather than detracting from its quality. Once or twice it can become intrusive, but it does reflect the humanity that is one of the core qualities of Portrait Of New York—a refreshingly unpretentious and enchanting record.”
Bruce Lindsay (AllAboutJazz)
