Matt Herskowitz: Mirror Image
Justin Time Records

Any attempt to categorize Mirror Image, pianist Matt Herskowitz's second solo album for Justin Time, as either jazz or classical will be resoundingly thwarted, so seamlessly are the two integrated in its ten performances. It's not the first time he's effected the reconciliation either: it was present in his first solo piano release, 2007's Matt Herskowitz Plays Gershwin, and addressed on its follow-up, Upstairs, recorded before a live audience at the Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill in Montreal, his adopted home since 2000. Other projects, among them two albums of Bach arrangements and a Chopin outing with his jazz trio, further reflect the pianist's desire to wed jazz and classical.

What makes Herskowitz's playing so satisfying is that, aside from the exceptionally high calibre of musicianship demonstrated, said reconciliation is realized organically. There's nothing awkward or contrived, in other words, about the integration, especially when decades of playing have facilitated a melding of contemporary jazz harmonies and classical sophistication that's as natural as breathing. His approach to the piano has reached a stage where the fusion emerges of its own accord and with the utmost cohesiveness. In a set-list featuring originals and covers, he plays with authority and command, every harmonious note reflecting years at the keyboard. Herskowitz has clearly reached that enviable stage in a musician's career when sensitivity to dynamics, touch, and pacing emanates from the playing with no apparent effort. That said, while it is evident, his estimable technique is deployed in service to the song.

Mirror Image opens mellifluously with the wistful “Tribute to John Coates,” the elegance of Herskowitz's execution immediately on display. His assimilation of various styles surfaces ever so subtly, with the merest hint of stride but one example, and delivered at a relaxing tempo, the performance also exemplifies a pronounced blues character. Nods to composers Satie and Schubert appear by way of “Gnossienne No. 1 / Moment Musical No. 3,” a treatment that sees Satie's familiar melodies segue into a bluesy, late-night extemporization—a perfect illustration of Herskowitz's deft infusion of a jazz sensibility into classical composition. The second half's handling of the Schubert material, on the other hand, features some of the album's most energized playing, with the pianist using the piece as a springboard for statements so dynamic they verge on theatrical. And in the set's longest performance, Herskowitz tackles the “Adagio Assai” from Ravel's Piano Concerto In G major and amplifies the dignified emotion contained within the writing with a marvelous, moving performance. That he chose to cover Ravel, Schubert, and Satie speaks volumes about the pianist's sensibility and playing style, which gravitates to the lyrical and finely textured.

December 2019