Laszlo Gardony: Clarity

Laszlo Gardony
Clarity
Sunnyside
2013-05-07

The pleasures of listening to improvised solo piano jazz by a reflective player cannot be overstated. Such is truly the case with Laszlo Gardony’s latest disc, whose music mesmerizingly glides from the rhythmic to the meditative in a manner as natural to finding one’s way through an old path in the woods. You know others have been there before, but every journey is different as this time, new spring flowers are in bloom or different bird songs are in the air. The 10 compositions may vary in tone and mood from each other, as indicated by such titles as “Settling of a Racing Mind” and “Resilient Joy”, but they are all of a single piece that indicate a contemplative mind that visits and revisits one’s consciousness like waves gentle waves breaking upon the shore. Gardony’s fingers seem wired to the place where thoughts have not yet formed into speech, from a deep well of emotion and intellect. The music may be quiet enough to serve as background noise but demands more attention through its spiritual insistence. There are echoes of Debussy, Ravel and Satie here, but the material is distinctly contemporary.

RATING 8 / 10