Search - Phil Markowitz :: Catalysis

For nearly four decades the Brooklyn-born pianist/composer/educator Phil Markowitz has been a major catalyst on the jazz scene. He s gigged with some of the finest leaders in the business, from Chet Baker, Phil Woods, and Joe Williams, to Ravi Coltrane, Joe Lovano, and David Liebman. Now, on his Sunnyside debut, Catalysis, with drummer Adam Nussbaum and bassist Jay Anderson, Markowitz gets a chance to show off his considerable pianistic prowess with a sympathetic trio that takes improvisational telepathy to a whole new level.

Musicians, through their contribution of energy and spirit, strengthen, and then are strengthened by the reaction to the musical environment they create, Markowitz writes in the liner notes. This forms a bond of unity that is exponentially massive compared to the individual. Great bands have an intangible chemistry that goes beyond words or ordinary expression.

And make no mistake: Markowitz leads a killer band, with his encyclopedic command of the keyboard that encompasses Art Tatum-style fluency, Keith Jarrett-like bursts of improvisational energy, and Bill Evans-embered sensitivity, equaled by the leader s compelling and complex eight compositions, which, in his words, ... strove to fashion open environments where we all could contribute on a freer basis. M.D.A. features the leader s light-speed parallel runs anchored by Nussbaums s 4/4 time, equaled by Breach, a Wayne Shorter-shaped selection dedicated to the victims of Katrina. Whys and Wherefores is an oblique avant-oriented track that is non-chordal in nature, while Undercurrents ebbs and flows with zesty Latin tinges, in contrast to the Chick Corea Matrix -style structure of the title track. On the ethereal For the Sake of ..., and Waiting, Markowitz paints impressionistic pictures dotted with eighty-eight tonal colors. Fine is a catchy hip-hop backbeat chaser that shows that this pianist knows where the one is in any style.

Markowitz s approach to the music began with piano lessons at the age of four. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, he formed Petrus, a fusion group, in 1973, and moved to New York City three years later, where he worked with Miroslav Vitous, Jeremy Steig, Joe Chambers, and Toots Thielemans. His big break came when he toured and recorded with Chet Baker s quartet for four years. He worked in Mel Lewis s Orchestra from 1983 to 1985, and with pop/soul diva Angela Bofill as her musical director. He also worked with Al Di Meola, Airto Moreira, The Bob Mintzer Big Band, Dave Liebman, Phil Woods, Michael Brecker, Stan Getz, and Lionel Hampton. His reputation as a composer was established by his composition, Sno Peas, which Bill Evans heard and later recorded on his LP, Affinity with Toots Thielemans. Markowitz s recordings as a leader include: Sno Peas (Ken Music, 1980), In the Woods (Passage, 1994), and Taxi Ride (Passage, 1998). He has received endowments from the Howard Foundation and Chamber Music America-The Doris Duke Foundation, and compositional grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. A stalwart and engaging educator, Markowitz is a professor at The Manhattan School of Music. The opportunity to impart something of esthetic and artistic value to new generations is becoming more and more important in this computerized society, he says.

When one looks at the amazing career of Phil Markowitz, it s no wonder that the term Catalysis fits him and his talented trio perfectly. I felt this unity with Jay and Adam the first time we played together ... I hope you can feel and connect with the special bond that we have, and dig the catalysis of the moment!