G. F. Mlely, Bill Markus & Gene Stone - A Little Night Waltz
JazCraft

By Nathan Gold (more articles from this author) 2003-11-21

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Artist: G. F. Mlely, Bill Markus & Gene Stone
Title: A Little Night Waltz
Label: JazCraft (www.jazcraft.net)
Genre: Jazz

JazCraft is a label with, so far, one purpose: to produce and market the music of G. F. Mlely. Last year, in an article, "G. F. Mlely, A Trail Of Endurance," I traced some of the unusual circumstances attending this musician's career and life. A pianist and composer, he was on a professional rise in the early 80s when family obligation and subsequent injury removed him, except for some composing and songwriting, for nearly two decades from the music scene.

"A Little Night Waltz" is the third CD, in as many years, in JazCraft's effort to bring Mlely's work to greater public attention. This is the first of the three to feature him in a trio format, with double bassist Bill Markus, and percussionist Gene Stone. Night Waltz contains 7 tracks, all of them Mlely's originals, 6 recorded in '91 in Los Angeles, and the 7th, the only solo piano piece, in '03 in Hawaii.

And original they are indeed, especially if understood that originality is to mean performance that reveals little to no copying - copping, it used to be called - of any other known style.

Of course, there is the homage, such "Village Scene" (a piece he wrote in '62!), a bit "Monkish," which Mlely himself is fast to point out, "the Thelonious" having been an influential force early on with Mlely. "Scene" also features bassist Bill Markus quite nicely, quick fingering through a complex of chromatic chord changes.

There is a lot of shifting of tonal centers in Mlely's compositional work, which can not be easy for any bassist to master in short order. But, Markus does a splendid job of it. The title tune, "A Little Night Waltz," a fast-moving waltz, moves in extraordinary ways through a maze of shifting tonal centers. Despite that, the players make it sound and feel easy, with Markus doing interesting chromatic soloing in the upper registers of his double bass. "Night Waltz" has several minor third root shifts in its chord sequence, enhanced by Markus sliding up and down in the lower registers behind the piano.

"Night Waltz" is one of three titles in the album in 3/4 time. "Words We Say" and "Thornbird," more relaxed than "Night Waltz," are equally as complex in their harmonic sequences. "Words" utilizes chords based on 11 of the 12 tones possible in the chromatic system, but does not move along chromatically.

There's a timelessness to much of Mlely's music. I'm listening to "Thornbird." It is unlike any other piece I can think of. It has a blend of intensity and calmness, an inwardness that makes me feel as if I were eves-dropping. A chord Mlely symbolizes as "oM," features in the sequence, which, in his theoretical treatise, "The 8-Tone Quarto-Modes Concept," he proves out as the "diminished-major." The only "piano alone" piece, "Invention 2 In The 8-Tone Quarto-Modes," features the "oM" throughout. It also has a catchy rhythmic pulse.

The waltzes highlight Mlely's inventiveness, both in their composition and pianistic performance. There is nothing borrowed from elsewhere that one can point a finger at. It used to be that that was what distinguished the great from all the others - accomplishment that stood on its own, that made a contributing difference.

The more straight-ahead pieces, "Berkeley Sprung" and "It's Not The End" - "intentionally retro," Mlely writes in the liner notes - swing in a more mainstream way. I liked the former best. End had Mlely rushing the time in places, a big no-no in jazz, but then, so did Oscar Peterson on occasion. These two titles also feature some excellent solo percussion work from Gene Stone, who has that quality, rare in a drummer, of percussive restraint that works so well in a trio setting.

Kudos to JazCraft.

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