Kristin Lee: American Sketches
First Hand Records

Some albums ease in gently, others slam the doors wide open. In starting her debut solo album with a torrential rendition of John Novacek's Four Rags, violinist Kristin Lee makes clear which category American Sketches falls into. In beginning with something so demanding, she also leaves no doubt as to her incredible technical facility. With pianists Jeremy Ajani Jordan and Jun Cho as her recital partners, Lee is front and centre throughout, and terrifically so. In addition to Novacek, American Sketches features material by George Gershwin, ‘J. J.' Johnson, Scott Joplin, Amy Beach, Harry Burleigh, Jonathan Ragonese, Kevin Puts, and Thelonious Monk. Similar to recent albums by pianists Lara Downes and Daniel Trifonov, the violinist has crafted a panoramic portrait of America that reflects its diversity and richness.

Not everything's as blustery as Four Rags, however. The Seoul-born Lee, who emigrated to the United States at the age of seven, has offset high-intensity pieces with lyrical ones by Gershwin, Beach, Puts, and Monk, the four names collectively testifying to the album's breadth. A key reason why the set-list is so eclectic is that Lee wanted to celebrate difference and encourage others to do so as fervently. As she eloquently states, “The variety of musical styles represents the diverse culture of America, showcasing the beauty of individual expression and the celebration of American history.”

One of the challenges for a classically trained musician is to establish an equivalent degree of credibility when delving into other genres. That's something of which Lee was obviously aware when she decided to include material by non-classical composers on the album, and it's something she handles masterfully. Operating outside the classical idiom, she excels at playing in ragtime and jazz styles and in such moments sounds closer in spirit to Stéphane Grappelli (see “4th Street Drag” and “Cockles” from Four Rags and her swinging rendition of Joplin's “The Entertainer”) than Itzhak Perlman—not that he, one of her former teachers, wouldn't be up to the challenge too.

As mentioned, Four Rags provides a dizzying portal into the recording, its light-speed framing parts “Intoxication” and “Full Stride Ahead” particularly impressive. With “4th Street Drag,” Lee shows she's as capable of emoting sweetly when the music calls for it. Jordan, her primary partner (Cho only performs with her on the Beach work), proves himself as adept, and, in fact, he improvised through a number of the sessions' arrangements. Lee's romantic side comes to the fore during her blues-tinged reading of Gershwin's “But Not For Me,” her expressive performance bolstered by Jordan's swinging accompaniment. Including pieces by jazz greats Johnson and Monk was an inspired move; the ones she selected were smart choices too, the trombonist's “Lament” gorgeous in its hushed delicacy and the dreamy “Monk's Mood” arguably the pianist's loveliest ballad. In both cases, Lee's expressive artistry and command are at their fullest.

After the Joplin piece, the album shifts into classical mode, starting with the heartfelt ache of Beach's modern classic Romance and ending with Puts' yearning, hymn-like “Air.” In between, Burleigh's four-part Southland Sketches adds the soulful melodicism of the American spiritual to the album. Its movements' singing melodies are as rooted in folk and gospel as classical, and Lee again shows an uncanny ease at adapting herself to the style; witness her assured, double-stopped delivery of the alternately rhapsodic and melancholy sections in its “Allegretto Grazioso” movement by way of illustration. There's nothing tentative about this debut, recorded at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon, New York between 2019 and 2023; on the contrary, the versatile violinist asserts herself splendidly throughout the fifty-three-minute collection.

November 2024