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Geoffrey Keezer Live at Birdland
Release date: August 16, 2024
Label: MarKeez

Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer Geoffrey Keezer issues his first live trio record in more than 15 years. Uniting colossal improvisers and masters of fluid foundation John Patitucci and Clarence Penn, Geoffrey Keezer Live at Birdland presents an album-length gesture that reinvigorates the soul of live releases from the heart of New York City. “I’ve always wanted to release a Live at Birdland record,” says the Wisconsin native who came up listening to Art Blakey’s 1954 Blue Note recording A Night at Birdland. Over three nights, the trio performed six sets in the Birdland Theater. “So we had six chances to create something new each time,” he says.

Committed to the same ethos of joy and defiant creativity as his heroes Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea, Keezer transmits the enormity of their contributions across Live at Birdland, sharing his reverence for the impact they’ve had on his music, his career, and the way he seeks to live day to day. “They are two of my musical heroes and kind of also human heroes,” says Keezer, who had the honor of recording with Chick earlier in his career and subbing in Wayne’s quartet for several dates in 2009. “I loved that both of them were youthful, almost childlike, in how they approached life. Even though they were doing incredible works of art and creating very complex music, they never took themselves too seriously. They always had a great sense of humor.”

Featuring three compositions from Corea and three from Shorter (four on its digital release), Live at Birdland also spotlights two originals from Keezer. “Both Wayne and Chick really encouraged me to compose,” he says. “They were always asking, ‘Are you writing something?’ and Chick especially would get annoyed if I wasn’t. So I really wanted to honor their wishes by including these two tunes on the record.”

Opening their set on Corea’s “High Wire - The Aerialist,” the artists commune with their audience and each other. Keezer delivers a brief, lyrical intro out of time before the three dive into conversation. From Shorter’s 1987 Columbia release Phantom Navigator, “Flagships” elicits waves of lushness from the trio, who frame each chamber of the piece with both intention and abandon. “It’s a gorgeous tune,” says Keezer. It’s more or less a concerto for Wayne. And something about the harmonies are almost like a portal to some other space.” A Patitucci favorite, Corea’s “Eternal Child” references Keezer’s perspective on his hero’s whims and naturalness. The former’s arco gesture through colors and motion from Keezer and Penn creates a doleful invocation at the top of the tune.

In 1993, Keezer composed “Song of the Canopy,” for his then band leader, the late Art Farmer. Featuring bright moments from Keezer and Patitucci and trades with Penn, the tune siphons harmonic inspiration from Donald Brown, another of Keezer’s longtime influences. “It’s something I kind of dug up in my filing cabinet,” he says. Each artist’s responsiveness to one another and the music’s entirety unfurls across “Imp’s Welcome,” expanding outward from the tension and breath of Keezer’s solo intro. He evokes an analog synth in trio context, drawing inspiration from the original multitrack synthesizer fantasia from Corea as well as film soundtracks, including those for A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Tron.

When first he played “Joy Ryder” with the Wayne Shorter Quartet, Keezer received an insider’s perspective on the tune: “He told me the second through fifth notes of the melody say ‘think for yourself.’” The trio bonds controlled intention and unruly propulsion through the tune’s different pathways. On “Dance Cadaverous,” Keezer delivers a beautiful intro, at once grounded and unfettered. The selection spotlights his harmonic exploration and penchant for absorbing open-endedness and returning clear intention. “I wanted to get closer to the harmony, kind of these minor polychords, that Herbie plays on the original recording,” says Keezer. “Dance Cadaverous” also features a thoughtful solo from Patitucci of equal rumination and virtuosity.

Available on Live at Birdland’s digital release only, “Virgo Rising - Cathay” combines Shorter compositions from High Life and Joy Ryder and serves as a 6-string electric bass feature for Patitucci. The set concludes on Keezer’s F sharp minor blues composition “Madame Grenouille” from his 1997 trio release Turn Up the Quiet. Informed “melodically” by John Coltrane and “vibe-wise” by Duke Ellington, the tune also features a thrilling end-of-set solo from Penn. “It’s just a fun tune to stretch out and end the set with,” says Keezer.

Geoffrey Keezer Live at Birdland presents three artists who tessellate through the music, signaling commitment and intention at every moment. Together, they encourage melodic ideas to develop, arc and expand into new universes. Sharing stories through syncopation, brilliant colors and changing hues, Keezer and his collaborators pay homage to Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea and the deeply personal artistries they continue to influence generation after generation.

Playdate
Release date: August 12, 2022
Label: MarKeez

On his 23rd album as a leader, renowned pianist, composer and arranger Geoffrey Keezer continues to augment and refine his distinctive style with his dazzling amalgamation of genres on Playdate. The album’s lighthearted namesake is an homage to the concept of planning a playdate for a group of kids. Rallying a group of distinguished collaborators, Keezer calls this virtuosic cast “Geoffrey Keezer and Friends.”

On Playdate, an idiomatic mastery of funk, hard bop, gospel, heavenly strings and the blues is externalized by an all-star musical roster, including collaborators Shedrick Mitchell on organ, Ron Blake on tenor and soprano saxophone, Richie Goods on acoustic and electric bass and Kendrick Scott on drums. This new offering also features special guest guitarists Aayushi Karnik and Nir Felder, as well as percussionist Munyungo Jackson.

Though his intention was to remain “old school” with a Blue Note-style blowing date, Keezer found inspiration in strings and percussion amidst his writing and decided to expand. Infused with Keezer’s characteristic flair, his variety on Playdate is fueled by a creative upbringing in a musical household. Keezer’s opening track “Refuge” is one example, taking loose inspiration from a piano concerto he wrote some two decades prior in 2001. In fact, the concerto was a family affair, written for a symphony orchestra in Keezer’s hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin where his mother played French horn and father played percussion. Influenced by his family’s extensive record collection, Keezer takes on a Rachmaninoff-like authority here, while also sourcing impact from Alice Coltrane’s string writing on John Coltrane’s Infinity. French hornist Rachel Drehmann also appears on “Refuge”, overdubbing herself into a four-piece horn section.

“I.L.Y.B.D.” (“I Love You But Damn”) calls upon the milieu of Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, specifically in 1989 when Keezer joined the final lineup succeeding Benny Green in the piano seat. Mitchell and Blake fix their respectively fiery solos before Keezer fashions a most jubilant performance, embodying the spirit of, as he puts it, “the late 1980s New York piano style,” which includes the likes of James Williams, Mulgrew Miller, John Hicks, Kirk Lightsey, Harold Mabern, Donald Brown, Tommy Flanagan, Walter Davis Jr., Kenny Barron and Hank Jones – all active in New York’s piano bar circuit when Keezer arrived in New York City – as well as Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner and Phineas Newborn.

Funk comes to the fore on Keezer’s arrangement of “Tomorrow” by The Brothers Johnson, subsequently covered by Quincy Jones and sung by Tevin Campbell on Jones’ 1989 record Back on the Block, here Highlighting Felder’s prowess on guitar. Where Felder is absent, we see Karnik, a student of Keezer’s at Juilliard, on guitar for “Refuge” and “M’s Bedtime Blues.”

Among the personnel, the eminent composer, arranger and keyboardist Shedrick Mitchell contributes two compositions (tracks 3 and 5), both focusing on the bandleader’s tonal qualities. “Her Look, Her Touch,” introduces itself with a delicate ballad from Mitchell, lending a sublime backdrop for Blake, who enters in a delightful vein that effortlessly complements Keezer’s entrance.

Expansive harmonies and rhythmic interplay between the piano and strings open “Bebah,” before morphing into a burner on which Blake and Keezer play with optimal clarity. Another Mitchell composition, “Bebah” also features Keezer’s second orchestral arrangement on the album. Keezer began arranging strings more recently over the past few years, contributing to Mitchell’s powerful 2020 date, What Do You Say? as well as The Baylor Project’s GRAMMY®-nominated album Generations and Richie Goods’ My Left Hand Man, both of which also include Mitchell’s gripping discourse. Keezer adds: “Shedrick’s various solos are like master classes in drawbar technique.”

The boisterous essence of Playdate is cemented on the album closer, “M’s Bedtime Blues.” The tune is based on a melody that Keezer and his wife, vocalist Gillian Margot, created when their son began to play with his drum kit over nightly FaceTime sessions. As the family connected to their loved ones from afar, they would play songs for Keezer’s father over the phone. “We warmed up with that tune in the studio, and decided to use it,” Keezer adds.

“I’m trying to dig deeper and deeper into what is my style, my personality as a pianist, and how I can develop it more,” the bandleader adds, commenting on his new offering. On Playdate, Geoffrey Keezer upholds his old friend Christian McBride’s observation that he “never repeats himself.” Expanding beyond the straight ahead and into a vigorous enterprise, Playdate is anchored by decades of rich influences, emanating the mastery of an artist who continues to surprise himself. “I want there to be moments on this record that make you do a double take. I want it to be unpredictable and exciting and fun to listen to.”