As Howard Riley comments, Byard captures "the whole stylistic development of jazz…especially, stride piano" – like Monk, he made that early jazz style an ingredient of his modernist approach. What’s surprising is how Riley matches him in this approach – it’s jazziest playing I’ve heard by someone known as an avant-gardist. In piano duets, over-richness and clutter is hard to avoid, and it isn’t always here, but there’s a restrained interpretation of Round Midnight, some engaging free improvisations and insightful accounts of Straight No Chaser and Body and Soul. Byard doubles on alto on a pretty version of Tadd Dameron’s Lady Bird.
Andy Hamilton Jazz Journal March 2016
Jaki Byard and Howard Riley – R&B: There are times when my nostalgia for the "good old days" of jazz needs feeding… and with on this re-issue of a 1984/5 performance/set from the Pendley Manor Jazz Festival, Jaki’s piano and alto sax join keyboard master Howard in some of the celebratory joy that’s just inherent in great jazz! Their duet on "Round Midnight/Space" will have you remembering those great jazz days with high affection! It’s only five tracks, but all are over five minutes in length, so that you wind up with nearly fifty minutes of jazz your ears will treasure for a long time to come! I was most impressed by the closer, "Lady Bird"… my personal favorite of the tunes on the album! If you love classic jazz players, you’ll agree with my declaration that this is MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED; "EQ" (energy quotient) rating is 4.98. Get more information at the SLAM Productions page for this classic jazz release. Rotcod Zzaj
http://rotcodzzaj.com/42-2/improvijazzation-nation-160/issue-160-reviews/
I have long been a fan of Jaki Byard. I don’t know how many records I have of him. I especially love his work with Mingus from 1964. Here he plays with someone I am not familiar with, but their playing together is seamless. It is as if there was one player with four hands. The two are clearly in sync with each other and work off each other perfectly. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this CD. The music flows seamlessly, from one tune to the next. The selections work well together— almost like a suite. I am sure there would have been more space left at the concert than on the CD. The one surprise for me was Byard’s alto playing. He picks it up on the last tune, which was played as an encore, and he pretty much sticks to the melody line. He starts off a bit hesitantly but gets into things very quickly. I will try to track down more of his also playing. Some really great piano p[laying. Highly recommended. Bernie Koenig Cadence January 2016
Briton Howard Riley and American Jaki Byard presented the English audience only two copyright works. The majority of the performance took them to perform the composition Johnny Green , Thelonius Monk and Tadd Dameron. Interestingly, during the song "Lady Bird" we can hear Jaki Byard playing both the piano and alto saxophone. Artists play freely, at ease - without clinging to the original versions of the songs. In their interpretations is a lot of subtlety and grace. The recipient has a sense of artistic freedom-breaking of both musicians. This is expressed in the vitality and liveliness of their style of play. Men have created music that breaks with all the framework and principles.
http://moozik.bloog.pl/id,353432980,title,Howard-Riley-Jaki-Byard-R-B-2015-SLAM,index.html
Mikolaj Furmankiewicz
Something of the same happened when
Riley collaborated a couple of decades
later with the visiting US pianist Jaki Byard,
a one man scholar not just of American
demotic music but of the social movements
that sustained it. Byard was a city man who
played the country blues in his own way.
He worked the piano like a stem press or a
loom. The two pianists had worked together
before, at London’s Royal Festival Hall in
1984 and with bassist Mario Castronari and
drummer Tony Marsh on Thelonious Monk
themes on the Slam release Feathers For
Jaki. The Pendley Manor date hasn’t been
heard before. The pianos are in tune but
don’t sound lovely, and Byard turns that to
advantage with punchy, percussive accents
in otherwise lyrical passages. One of them
even slaps out piledriver accents on the
body of the piano during the improvised
"Open", and Byard does his trademark
simultaneous piano and alto saxophone at
the end of the encore "Lady Bird".
Piano duos can be disastrous (Cecil Taylor
and Mary Lou Williams) or they can be great
(Tracey and Tippett, Riley and Tippett, this
one) but there are few with this level of
scholarly interaction. Quotes and nudging
cues come thick and fast, but every track
has a clear and unrelenting process and
direction, and a shared understanding of
Monk as composer (a superfast "Straight,
No Chaser") confirms the guild fraternalism.
Brian Morton Wire December 2015
I will never ignore a recording by pianist HOWARD RILEY as there will always be something
of interest in it. Even more so I’d never ignore a record with JAKI BYARD although I was often
disappointed with Byard issues as I felt his talent and range was rarely properly produced on record.
Riley and Byard previously recorded together in 1984 and I remember being less than enamored with
the result. But than again,The same goes for the set Byard recorded with Earl Hines. So when I saw
this release, R&B [Slam cd 2100] by the duo, I figured it was a cull now getting attention. Not so,
this live set from the Manor Jazz Festival [7/7/85] is top quality. Riley seems to have zoned into the
Byard style(s) and the two have wonderful fun on improvs and standards [Body And Soul/ Round Midnight/
Straight No Chaser]. As an added trait Byard also plays his alto sax with piano on an encore of "Lady Bird".
Byard was a distinctive alto player and while here it is not his best example, I think it is an indication of how
good he felt the circumstances were. Here then is the Byard I love. Nothing cull-ish about this.
Robert D. Rusch, September 2015 Papatamus
A summit between pianists Howard Riley and Jaki Byard took place at the Pendley Manor Jazz Festival back in July 1985. The two switch between original and jazz standards with wondrous results. A wonderfully romantic opening to "Body and Soul" slowly undulates to an unbridled feast of passion, while "Straight, No Chaser" and "Round Midnight/Space" keep the root of Monk’s sphere of influence, but with a mix of rhapsody and experimental embellishments. The two mix ragtime and jagged time on their own "Open" and Byard even whips out his alto sax for a bopping read of "Lady Bird." Who was hiding this gig from us for so long?
George W. Harris http://www.jazzweekly.com/2015/11/grand-slamhoward-riley-jaki-byard-rb-lucia-iannielo-maintenant/
HOWARD RILEY /JAKI BYARD - R & B (Slam 2100; UK) Fabulous duo featuring Howard Riley on piano and Jaki Byard on piano & alto sax. This was recorded live at the Pendley Manor Jazz Festivalin England in July of 1985. This is/was a rare meeting of two masters, an American legend, the late Jaki Byard, who worked with Charles Mingus, Roland Kirk and Booker Ervin with one of the UK's finest pianists, Howard Riley, who has more than thirty discs of solo, duo and trio music and who has worked with Barry Guy, Keith Tippett, Elton Dean and is a ember of the London Jazz Composers Orchestra. This duo has a couple of previous discs on the Leo and Slam labels, both highly praised. Here they cover mostly standards like "Round Midnight", "Straight No Chaser", "Lady Bird" and "Body and Soul" as well as a couple of duo improvisations. Stunning! We got a dozen of these in earlier this week and half are already gone from curious walk-in customers. - BLG/DMG https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-gb/suite
Nel 1984 due pianisti, l´inglese Howard Riley e l´afroamericano Jaki Byard, diedero un concerto al London´s Royal Festival Hall. La performance fu pubblicata allora dalla Leo Records su vinile e successivamente dalla Slam di George Halsam. L´anno dopo i due pianisti si incontrarono ancora, Jaki Byard era di nuovo in giro in UK, e così fu tenuto un nuovo concerto dei due al Pendley Manor Jazz Festival, presentato ora su CD. La musica dei due ovviamente è senza tempo mentre eseguono standard famosi, tranne Open di Riley, un brano più moderno, aperto, in cui il collega americano si trova comunque a proprio agio. Il concerto si apre con Body and Soul e già si nota come si trovino perfettamente a proprio agio, empatici l´uno per l´altro, così che quando durante l´improvvisazione appare il tema di
Vittorio Lo Conte http://www.musiczoom.it/?p=24062#.VfPcLPlVikq
In 1984, two pianists, english Howard Riley el'afroamericano Jaki Byard, gave a concert at London's Royal Festival Hall. The performance was then published by Leo Records on vinyl and later by George Haslam SLAM. One year later the two pianists met again, Jaki Byard was back on the streets in the UK, and so it was again held a concert for two at Pendley Manor Jazz Festival, presented now on CD. The music of the two is obviously no time while performing standard famous, except Open, a song more modern, open, in which fellow American is still comfortable. The concert opens with Body and Soul and already we see that they are perfectly at ease, empathetic each with the other one, so that when during improvisation appears the theme of notes so that all appears organic and compact, almost an arrangement already prepared and rehearsed to perfection. The compositions of Thelonious Monk Round Midnight and Straight No Chaser are performed with a lot of heat, as well as the final Lady Bird, a classic bop era written by Tadd Dameron, where the track ends Byard simultaneously playing the piano and an alto sax . The two pianists leave a work that deserved the print media, recorded professionally. It is a concert that you listen willingly even today, both are in a state of grace and able to have fun with the audience in the performance of these standards without falling into situations dilated and no bite. Everything takes place in an essential and precise, as if you went in the studio.
Come si suol dire, sembra ieri, ma dal 1985 sono passai tre decenni. Il tempo per fortuna aggiusta molte cose, ad esempio la prospettiva storica. All'epoca il concerto qui riportato che incrociava le giovani energie pianistiche dell'inglese Howard Riley con quelle più mature del maestro Jacky Byard, famoso per aver prestato il suo pianoforte onnisciente sulla storia dei tasti jazz a Eric Dolphy e Charles Mingus, appariva come un fatto di routine, o quasi. Oggi, al riascolto, è un piccolo miracolo. Solo cinque brani (due dal repertorio più noto di Monk: Round Midnight e Straight, No Chaser), dilatati fin al quarto d'ora e oltre nel concerto tenutosial Pendley Manor Jazz Festival: segno che i due, già incontratisi in situazione simile l'anno prima, avevano affilato le armi. Si parte sempre con assoluta circospezione, esplorando e riesplorando il tema esposto, poi via con una stura di giochi armonici, cluster, dissonanze piazzate ad arte, echi formidabili delle vertigini antiche "stride" che Byard padroneggiava come quasi nessun altro. In coda Byard alza le mani dal piano, ed imbraccia il sax contralto, che suonava con grazia acerba: ne nasce una deliziosa Lady Bird. (Guido Festinese) http://www.discoclub65.it/jazz/archivio-mainmenu-42/6180-howard-rileyjaki-byard-rnb.html
GOOGLE TRANSLATE
As they say, it seems like yesterday, but since 1985 have spent three decades. The time for luck adjusts many things, such as the historical perspective. At the time the concert here reported that crossed the young energies of English pianist Howard Riley with the more mature of the master Jacky Byard, famous for having lent his piano-knowing about the history of jazz keys to Eric Dolphy and Charles Mingus, appeared as a done routinely, or almost. Today, at rehearsal, is a small miracle. Only five songs (two from the repertoire best known Monk - Round Midnight and Straight, No Chaser), dilated from the quarter-hour and over in concert tenutosial Pendley Manor Jazz Festival: a sign that the two, who met already in the similar situation a year before, they had sharp weapons. It always starts with absolute caution, exploring the theme and re-exploring exposed, then off with floodgates of games harmonic clusters, artfully placed dissonances, echoes formidable vertigo ancient "stride" Byard mastered that like almost no other. Queued Byard raises his hands from the floor, and pointed his alto saxophone, playing with grace sour: I was born a lovely Lady Bird.
