The Jazzic Trio

The Jazzic Trio: Freedom of Choice

by Robert Spencer
July 1, 2000

Master pianist Michael Jefry Stevens is accompanied this time out by cellist Karen Valeur and acoustic guitarist Jon Sebastian Hemmersam. Valeur, a classically trained musician, had never improvised before, but she sounds utterly at home on this set of eleven previously-composed and improvised pieces. In her company Stevens tends to favor modern classical gestures, giving this music an angularity that is at the same time mitigated by its powerful forward motion.

There are moments of supreme loveliness, high tension, romantic ...