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Pablo Held: Music

  Tobias Fischer

This 23-year-old German jazz pianist’s second full-length isn’t a revelation, nor was it intended to be, nor should it be, by rights, being that a piano/bass/drums trio isn’t supposed to make the planet forget the Sex Pistols – people know that piano trios are quiet, puttering things, stuff for dinner backgrounding or quiet club reflection.

This German kid groks this and is prepared to live with it, but that doesn’t mean he won’t toss out a few angry, banging passages here and there (the puzzlingly titled opening track “Encore” has a bit that’d work as soundtrack for a clip of a ruined drunk breaking whatever glass is around). The feel of “I Have a Dream” is free-form, a sequence of pausing, teasing and finally pouncing with some tickled chitchat that winds up sounding argumentative before settling on calmness – much of this record is conflicted in that manner, which actually points to a rather show-offish side that’s par for the course given Held’s age.

As for the future, well yes, it’s full of potential.

By Eric Saeger

Homepage: Pablo Held
Homepage: Pirouet Records