Sullivan Fortner - Solo Game / 2CD set

Sullivan Fortner’s peers are unanimous: he’s one of the most brilliant pianists of his generation, and now he’s releasing “Solo Game,” a particularly stimulating double-album presented in the eclectic style he openly accepts, and in many aspects it has the sound of a genuine aesthetic manifesto.

It is a fantastic solo opus and, as if reflected in a mirror, it traces erudite paths through the history of jazz piano. Yet at the same time it is an experimental piece of electroacoustic music that surprises constantly, remaining almost impossible to situate with precision. This is a hybrid collection that gives Fortner the opportunity to conduct a malicious dialogue between tradition(s) and the modern; he picks up two active principles that we sometimes tend to forget, and replaces them at the heart of jazz and its poetry: the taking of risks and, especially, the taste for playing games.

Sullivan Fortner - Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3 organ, vibes, celeste, chime tree, Moog, vocoder, hand percussion, egg shaker, triangle, vocals, hand claps, shakers, Canopus bass drum, Mongolian gong), Kyle Poole (hand claps on 2-2), Cecile McLorin Salvant (vocals on 2-3)

    - Disc 1 -
    1 Don't You Worry About a Thing
    2 I Didn't Know What Time It Was
    3 Congolese Children
    4 I'm All Smiles
    5 Invitation
    6 Once I Loved
    7 Cute
    8 This Is New
    9 Come Sunday

    - Disc 2 -
    1 Power Mode
    2 It's a Game
    3 Snakes and Ladders
    4 Hounds and Jackal
    5 King's Table
    6 Stag
    7 Cross and Circle
    8 Space Walk
    9 Valse Du Petit Chien
    10 Fred Hersch, Notes on Solo
    11 Jason Moran, Notes on Game