The New York Second: Room For Other People
Harald Walkate

Dutch pianist Harald Walkate made a brilliant choice when he decided to fashion his group's fifth album after the photography of Vivian Maier, the so-called ‘Nanny Photographer.' In drawing for inspiration directly from her images, the ten musical interpretations on Room For Other People call forth terrific treatments by The New York Second. Together since 2015, his Netherlands-based jazz ensemble has performed and recorded as a quartet, quintet, septet, and trio, but given the evidence at hand it's the new release's octet formation that is best suited to Walkate's music. The range of timbres an octet affords dovetails perfectly with his cinematic material, and the coupling of American vibraphonist Rob Waring with some of the Netherlands' finest musicians make for compelling music.

Bolstering the project's impact is a visual presentation that illuminates the aural content, specifically photographs and accompanying text for all ten compositions. All of the images are by Maier, naturally, though the one used for “View of Île Saint-Louis” is by Walkate (permission to use her original wasn't received, but a Google search of “Vivian Maier Notre Dame” does, however, call forth a related photo). Her story is by any measure fascinating. While working as a nanny, she took thousands of photographs with her Rolleiflex camera, many on the streets of Chicago and New York, but chose to stow them away in hundreds of boxes rather than publicly display them. Fame came to this street photographer posthumously after her images were purchased at auction shortly before her death by a collector who, recognizing what a treasure trove he'd acquired, elected to share them with the world. The haunting ones shown in the booklet are B&W and mostly from NYC, though two are from Florida, another Chicago, and the other (again, Walkate's) Paris. A vivid sense of time and place is evoked that does much to reinforce the music's impact.

The New York Second's music is contemporary acoustic jazz, but soul and classical find their into these intricate and texturally rich arrangements too; Walkate also cites Antonio Carlos Jobim, Pat Metheny, and Steve Reich as key influences. Yet while the pianist references, for example, the presence of Reich-like patterns in “983 Third Avenue,” Walkate's compositions are ultimately total reflections of him and him alone. The group's attractive harmonic palette derives from an instrumental makeup that complements vibraphone and the rhythm section of double bassist Lorenzo Buffa, drummer Max Sergeant, and Walkate on piano with a four-part woodwinds-and-brass unit comprising Teus Nobel (trumpet, flugelhorn), Mark Alban Lotz (flutes), Vincent Veneman (trombone), and Tom Beek (tenor saxophone). Walkate's credited with writing, arranging, and production, with Beek receiving credit as co-producer. Eleven tracks appear, with the moody title track reprised at album's end to neatly tie things up.

That the project was a labour of love is evident in Walkate's texts, which reflect a thoughtful reflection on the photographs' contents. He was clearly captivated by her images, and his enthusiasm for her work is infectious. Street scenes of buildings and people, a romantic couple in a Central Park carriage, an elegant woman in a white dress, Penn Station, a young African-American on a Florida street, a self-portrait of Maier reflected in a store window—all such images provide a riveting micro-sampling of the photographer's work.

With “983 Third Avenue” as the transporting opener, it takes mere seconds for the ensemble's lush sound and persona to establish itself. An entrancing lilt is generated by the rhythm section that the horns and woodwinds intensify with unison voicings and Waring embellishes with shimmering textures. Midway through, the performance morphs into breezy swing, with Beek's tenor spearheading the move and a rousing flute turn by Lotz adding to the impression. The entrancing mood remains solidly in place for the serenading sparkle of “Florida, 1957” and the octet's mellifluous expression, after which things take a funkier turn with the soulful radiance and gorgeous flute-and-vibes pairings of “The Collectors Corner.” Whereas “The Class Photograph” and “Downstairs for Incoming Trains” seduce with slow and bluesy takes that feel like late-night NYC incarnate, “The White Dress” does the same with the lustrous warmth of its horns and lyrical melodic gestures. Wistful yearning permeates the heartfelt blues-ballad reading of “Location & Date Unknown,” and individually and collectively the musicians elevate Walkate's compositions with playing that locates that sweet spot between tight and loose. The ensemble performances are strong, and the soloing, shared by all, is consistently on-point (check out the purring one Beek delivers during “View of Île Saint-Louis,” for example). When the individual spotlights emerge, they do so fluidly and complement the mood of the piece in question. At approximately seventy-six minutes, Room For Other People is a lot to digest, but the effort's repaid.

March 2025