The Point by Ben Waltzer

"This no-nonsense jazz pianist in the Ellington and Monk vein gets a big, ringing sound out of the extreme registers of the instrument...He manages a thoughtful modernism that coexists more than peaceably with a buoyant, unselfconscious sense of swing." – New York Times
"The pleasure Waltzer generates is bountiful." - Jim Macnie, Village Voice


Pianist Ben Waltzer cut his teeth on the expansive New York jazz scene of the 1990s playing with the likes of Gerald Cleaver, Reid Anderson, and Bill McHenry and developing his personal voice alongside peers Brad Mehldau, Kevin Hays, and Ethan Iverson. As a result of his time in that crucible, “Waltzer is rooted in postbop but fluent in a wide range of styles, resulting in a driving sound that’s historically minded and deeply gratifying.” (Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader). His early work is well-documented by several critically acclaimed releases on the Barcelona-based Fresh Sounds record label, and Waltzer maintains a busy schedule in New York leading his own bands at Smalls and Mezzrow and serving as musical director for celebrity designer Isaac Mizrahi. In 2014, Waltzer relocated to Chicago with his family and rapidly integrated into the thriving jazz community there. The Point, Waltzer’s first record as a leader since that move, captures his top-flight Chicago quartet with saxophonist Geof Bradfield, bassist Clark Sommers, and drummer Dana Hall in a vibrant live performance at Chicago’s Pro Musica Audio
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The quartet initially coalesced under the leadership of Dana Hall as Black Fire, exploring the iconoclastic music of Andrew Hill weekly at Andy’s Jazz Club. “Ben came by and sat in one night, and it was immediately apparent that he was the right fit, his flow and aesthetic meshed with ours effortlessly,” comments Bradfield. Perhaps their easy connection is less surprising given that Bradfield, Hall and Sommers all did their own stints in New York before settling in Chicago. The band honed its sound and repertoire there for the next two years, developing the trust and intuition evident here on their debut recording. “The Point, named for the Chicago promontory that juts into Lake Michigan, is a document of a collective sound in time and place,” says Waltzer. “I hope the album, supported by an audience who generously took part in the recording process, reflects its nature: A meeting ground for meditative repose as well as a junction of social life, where celebrations, weddings, and memorials accompany the nearby tides and waves that give and take and suggest flow and change.”

From Bradfield’s swinging opener "Kintsugi," the ancient Japanese art of mending cracks with gold-inflected inlay to highlight strength through imperfection, to Sommers’ soaring "No Map," the record is a communal effort. The leader’s offerings include the simmering title track and “Layla’s Dream,” an impressionistic waltz dedicated to his young niece and handled with delicacy and nuance by the ensemble. Sommers’ “Skyward,” a catchy boogaloo evocative of Chicago legend Eddie Harris, foregrounds the funkier side of the quartet before swinging out under Waltzer, who seamlessly blends blues and contrapuntal modernism in his solo. Hall brings things to a climax with a characteristically driving, virtuosic drum solo. Bradfield’s slippery mixed-meter “Six Nails” stands in sharp contrast, showcasing the free-wheeling rhythmic interaction the quartet has developed over many nights on the bandstand. The only non-original piece is Billy Strayhorn’s "A Flower is a Lovesome Thing," long a favorite ballad of Waltzer’s.

“I love Geof's use of the bass clarinet and its dark, wooden sound here, an instrument he plays so beautifully. It was featured prominently in Dana's "Black Fire" band and helps tie together the Ellington/Strayhorn and Chicago jazz traditions in so many different ways.”

The New York-Chicago transplant sees the music here as reflecting and connecting the many junctures along his path. “We see and hear through our personal prisms,” says Waltzer, “and as a resident of Hyde Park, The Point offers a vista in many directions that evoke varied relationships and aspects of my life: Chicago's South Side north toward its center, home to its jazz scene whose many contributors led by Geof, Clark, and Dana have become great friends and colleagues, east toward Michigan, where I grew up, and farther east, to New York, a former home whose jazz world was initially fed by its Chicago source.” Listeners in Chicago and beyond can celebrate Ben Waltzer’s triumphant return to that source with The Point.