John Blum — Nine Rivers
Nine Rivers is a solo piano album that sits somewhere between rapid free jazz and manically bounding modern classical composition. As its title may suggest, it features nine tracks- though it’s really most effective taken as one forty-seven & a half minute journey into manic & unrelenting piano playing.
The CD release features on its front cover a close-up monochrome picture of a head down, sweaty, eyes closed Blum at his piano. And really, this is the perfect image for what’s inside.
John Blum is a New York born & based pianist/ composer who has been active since the early 90s. Though he has only just seven albums to his name, he’s performed with a wide range of jazz players, such as Peter Brotzman, William Parker, Tony Scott, and Butch Morris.
The album is a live recording from September 2013, when Blum played at the Crosscurrent fest in Pescara, Italy.
As mentioned in my introduction/ opening paragraph, the album consists of nine tracks, and forty-seven and a half minutes of sound. But due to Mr Blum's rapidly cascading & manically darting style, it truly is best experienced in one go.
Truly, Blum is a deranged madman at the keys- his playing bonding along at an astonishing rate. Yet, it never becomes shapeless or aimless- there is always shape, sense, and even tone to what he is playing. It’s just at the pace he is playing, it ends up being an exhilarating and dizzying ride.
His playing, as well as being very fast, is always precise- though often quite violent in its manic rushes and speeding cascades. At points, he shifts into dwellings of certain notation- but these only last briefly, before he’s once more speeding off.
As a record, Nine Rivers truly is an exhilarating and invigorating ride, which will well & truly blow the cobwebs off, and get one's heart pumping.