Story by Brad Walseth, photos by John Broughton, Copyright 2010
Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Amina Figarova studied classical concert piano at the Baku Conservatory before moving to the Netherlands where she studied jazz performance at the Rotterdam Conservatory, at Berklee, as well as at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Colony in Aspen, Co. This impressive resume has led the talented artist to worldwide acclaim through the release of nearly a dozen recordings which revealed her not only as an excellent jazz pianist, but as a composer of high magnitude who seems to have gotten better with each release. Her sextet's performance at the 2009 Chicago Jazz Festival was one of the highlights of the year - so we were quite pleased to welcome her back to our city.
The sextet tore into the ferocious ""A" Dance" to start off the matinee performance at the Jazz Showcase last Sunday. The song - also the lead track from Above the Clouds - the pianist's stellar 2008 release - was driven by Martin Wind's (Matt Wilson's Arts and Crafts) rapid-fire walking bass and Chris "Buckshot' Strik's percussive drumming, over which the front line: flautist Bart Platteau (also Figarova's husband), incendiary trumpeter Ernie Hammes and tenor saxophonist Mark Mommaas jubilantly navigated Figarova's intricate interlocking horn lines. The combination of flute. trumpet and sax is one which the composer utilizes fully to produce color, depth and motion.
Figarova herself combines lyrical lines with a strong rhythmic purpose on the keyboard. After a fine solo interlude, the band kicked into the 7/4 "Ernie's song" (also from Above the Clouds. Here again, Figarova's ability to combine hard charging rhythms and tasteful horn arrangements was on display. And Hammes' solo turn ignited some of the brightest fireworks of the concert.
The prolific composer also revealed that a new CD will soon be released. Entitled Sketches - Figarova announced that the pieces on the new CD had been composed while touring. "Back to New Orleans" was written when the band visited the city post Katrina (by coincidence they are playing Snug Harbor in the Crescent City this weekend). This satisfying dark blues included a delicious bowed bass solo, while Mommaas' solo sounded as if the sax man were standing alone under a streetlight on a lonely night.
Both Platteau and Figarova shone on the title track "Above the Clouds" - a nice testament to their personal and professional partnership, while, another new original ("Flight #?") was a rhythmic highlight and bodes well for the new album. On the latter, drummer Strik was given the green light to cut loose on an entertaining solo.
The afternoon set ended appropriately with the boldly swinging "Chicago Split," which included a bluesy bass, piano and flute interlude, as well as a hotly contested sax and trumpet interchange and more pyrotechnics from Strik. A perfect way to end the show with a tribute to the "city of big shoulders."
