Myra Melford Splash (Intakt) review

Myra Melford

(Intakt)

By Michael J. West  |   Published April 2025

Myra Melford Splash is a damned exciting piano trio record. You can know that without immersing yourself in the paintings of Cy Twombly, whose work inspires the music — although the piece on the album cover (part of Twombly’s famed Lepanto cycle) certainly suggests the bright contrast, odd shapes and ordered abstraction within.

What’s more important is that those elements make Splash a blast to listen to. Pianist Melford’s expressionistic squiggles really pop against bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith’s deceptively steady grooves on “Drift.” Inversely, it’s they who stand out against her determined propulsion on “Freewheeler.” “A Line With A Mind Of Its Own” finds all three players somehow in relief against each other, each playing their own version of the idea expressed in the title while also working in tandem. One never knows where any or all of them will go, but it sure is fun to find out.

A powerful sense of kinesis drives the entire album (not unlike the graffitiesque forms in Twombly’s art, but, again, that’s a minor point). In the first two of Splash’s three “interludes,” that kinesis functions ironically; frantic or pointed piano, bass and vibes figures converge into placid, meditative wholes. (The closing “Chalk,” though not an interlude, does the same.) The third accomplishes a more daunting task as a tranquil whole deconstructs itself into oblong shards — without sacrificing the tranquility.

It’s “Drypaint,” however, that best showcases the motion at work in this music. Formanek transitions back and forth between Melford and Smith, partnering with one then the other to draw angular, segmented lines that aggressively clash with whoever is the odd trio-mate out at any given moment. It’s as striking and fresh an approach as Twombly’s.

from https://downbeat.com