Pianist Alon Nechushtan keeps his notes on their toes as he creates tightly-rung arabesques and vivacious pirouettes with his keys. He has an instinct for organizing purely improvised energy that requires the audiences’ undivided attention. His new CD, Words Beyond from Buckyball Records features drummer Dan Weiss and bassist Francois Moutin. As a threesome, their triple layers produce flapping motions that form mind-boggling mazes as the instruments bow and flex at different speeds changing the course of the movements in mid-stream and intersecting lines intermittently.

Maintaining a springy constitution throughout “Muppet Shock”, the extemporaneous intervals are indicative of free thinking musicians. The spontaneous combustion of the cymbal strikes buttressing “Secret Short/Short Secret” bridge the transitions. The cascading droplets shaped by the piano keys through “A Different Kind of Morning” have a crystalline twinkle as the notes traipse softly, and shift to a frolicking canter along “Spinning The Clouds”. The brisk tremors of the keys across “Dr. Masterplan” form potmarks along the rippling drumbeats, and cool down to a gentle stroll in “Spring Soul Song” and “The Traveler”.

Words Beyond is loosely based on Mendelssohn’s seminal “Songs Without Words” according to Alon Nechushtan’s, who claims that the music for the album came to him after playing Mendelssohn’s solo pieces on the piano. Nechushtan’s range is modulated to stay within the middle register of the piano, and what he achieves in those octaves exhibits his unbridled imagination.

www.musicalon.com

Personnel:
Alon Nechushtan – piano, Dan Weiss – drums, and Francois Moutin – bass

Tracklisting:
Muppet Shock, A Different Kind of Morning, Spinning The Clouds, Dr. Masterplan, Spring Soul Song, Secret Short/Short Secret, Entranced, Heartbreakthrough, The Traveler