April 1998

Mitchel Forman
Harvest Song
Jazzline

By Hilarie Grey

An accomplished pianist who has supported such greats as John McLaughlin, John Scofield and Pat Metheny, Mitchel Forman reveals his compositional skills on Harvest Song (Jazzline JL 11150; 52:18), an absorbing and at times deeply moving outing for solo piano. With a sensitive performance style touching sentimental soft rhythm chords and freewheeling, playful melodies, Forman delivers his compositions as situational and emotional vignettes. His moods range from upbeat and adventurous (the circular rhythmic "Myst") to romantic (a virtuoso read of Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You") to playful (the jazz-rag, sliding "The Wrong Trousers")-but his most commanding performances are as complex as the emotions they portray: the delicate "Gorgeous" feels light, fragile and awe-struck in its high-register play, and "The Piano Tuner" holds a genuine feeling of loss in its haunting call-and-answers, and desperate-sounding offbeat runs.