Stargazer [CD] (ONLINE ORDER ONLY)

Half a century into a brilliant career is a good time to release a debut album. For veteran pianist/composer Armen Donelian, the moment seems ripe to revisit the first release in his treasure-laden discography, Stargazer. The recording was listened to and appreciated in Japan and Europe, but never distributed and barely heard in the United States. Featuring bass maestro Eddie Gomez and NEA Jazz Master Billy Hart on drums, the captivating and passionately lyrical trio session introduced an accomplished composer and self-possessed improviser eager to mix it up with his older peers. Released on vinyl in 1981 by the long-defunct Japanese label Atlas Records and now due for reissue by Sunnyside Records with an extra, never-before-released track, Stargazer offers a fresh look at an artist then-emerging as a dynamic creative force.For Donelian, the sting isn't just that the music was essentially unheard for 45 years. "It wasn't even reviewed in Downbeat or other American publications because it was an import," he says. He recorded and produced the album in 1980 in New York with his much better established compatriots. A year later he struck a deal with Atlas for the Japanese release. The masters reverted to Donelian when the label went under years ago. But he bided his time, preferring to forge ahead with new music rather than look backward. With the approach of his 75th birthday in December, though, he "felt strongly this was a document that needed to be available," he says. "I've been very fortunate to meet and work with incredible musicians throughout my life. I never really look back that much on my career, or even think about the idea of a 'career.' To me, what I've always loved to do is moving forward into the explorative space, the unknown. After this comes out, I've got another album scheduled on Sunnyside. I'm not by any means tied to the past."The past, however, has a good deal to say about Donelian, starting with the album's title track, an intricate, sweeping tune defined by the trio's volatile interaction. Composed after the death of his mother, "Stargazer" wasn't so much written for her as inspired by Donelian's grief and his memories of wonder as a child looking out at the night sky with a telescope. "It all went into the mix of this somewhat ruminative composition, but Eddie and Billy gave it the propulsion," says Donelian, noting that he's recorded the piece on three subsequent albums and includes it in almost every concert. "The way Billy plays really shaped the piece. He's very interactive, completely free yet taking care of business at the same time."Completely free also describes the trio's approach to the final piece recorded at the session, the aptly titled, "Free at Last." From the ringing dissonance of the opening notes the performance evolves as the three players listen and respond to each other, moving through several modes and moods without a road map or destination. A tender ballad inspired by a woman with whom Donelian was infatuated, "Southern Belle" features Gomez exploring a harmonic landscape the pianist entered during his studies with Richie Beirach, a brilliantly probing improviser with a rarefied musical vocabulary pioneered on his 1976 ECM debut album Eon. Gomez had become one of jazz's most esteemed bassists during an 11-year tenure with piano legend Bill Evans, and he brings similar distilled lyricism and intensity to the piece. No conclusions about the fate of the crush should be drawn from the following piece, the joyous, Brazilian-inflected "Love's Endless Spin." Donelian developed and played the tune with the prolific Colombian saxophonist/flutist Justo Almario and Brazilian drum great Portinho, and in the hands of Gomez and Hart it retains it's almost giddy groove.