For over thirty years, Larry Goldings has been hailed as one of the greatest jazz organists of his generation, a premise made salient with the continued success of his long-standing organ trio with guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart.

However, the brightly glowing accolades for his organ playing have perhaps blinded the jazz-loving public to Goldings’ equally astonishing and singularly unique talents on the piano, beyond those fortunate enough to catch a live show in Los Angeles (his home since 2001).

Thankfully, Goldings is addressing the imbalance in perception with a rarity for him: a live piano trio album, his first in all those years as a professional musician. I Will features Goldings on piano, along with Karl McComas-Reichl on bass and Christian Euman on drums, three of the most inventive rhythm section players in L.A.

On an October night in 2023, this new trio debuted at Sam First, the intimate listening room near LAX Airport, known for its cozy, living room vibe and pristine, audiophile-grade sound. They returned the following spring for an encore performance, and both nights were recorded using Sam First’s state-of-the-art analog to digital recording setup. However, it was only after Goldings heard the results that he decided to make an album.

It’s probably good that we didn’t know we were going to put it out at that point, Goldings says. I was pleasantly surprised to realize that we definitely had a record.

That the album is live contextualizes it with other recorded shows by notable piano trios – Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Fred Hersch (Goldings’ third cousin), Brad Mehldau, et al – and the brilliant performance of Goldings’ trio invites and deserves such lofty comparisons.

Side A: 1. Roach [8:12] (Larry Goldings)
2. It Ain’t Necessarily So [8:01] (George Gershwin)
3. I Will [4:58] (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)

With all Goldings’ material on I Will most assuredly reflecting a populist approach to his artful eclecticism, putting the vinyl on the player, dropping the needle, and then sitting back to enjoy, the first side opens on the infectiously blues-skewed original composition Roach, and then we have brought forth the harmonically reimagined tune that is Gershwin’s big Porgy and Bess opera It Ain’t Necessarily So, rounding out on a exquisitely emotionally tender recounting of the Beatles’ 1968 cut I Will.

Side B:
4. Mambo Inn [7:41] (Mario Bauzá)
5. Embraceable You [5:17] (George Gershwin)
6. Jesus Was A Cross Maker [7:09] (Judee Sill)

Flipping the lush vinyl LP over, and we are next treated to the crazy cool arrangement of Mario Bauzá’s infectious, buoyantly melodious Mambo Inn, which is itself backed seamlessly by an articulated rendering of Embraceable You, (itself from an unpublished operetta by the Gershwin’s named East Is West), this memorable new set closing on his impeccablely-styled take on the folk-rock track Jesus Was A Cross Maker (by Judee Sill from 1971).

For Goldings, this album not only serves as a proclamation of his pianistic prowess, but also a bit of a reckoning (or reconciliation) for him as a pianist. It’s been 27 years since he released his first piano trio album, Awareness, with bassist Larry Grenadier and the great Paul Motian on drums, after Goldings was already well-known as an organist.

Credits:
Larry Goldings (piano)
Karl McComas-Reichl (bass)
Christian Euman (drums)

Recorded using Sam First’s state-of-the-art analog to digital recording setup, carefully mixed in-house and then mastered by Bernie Grundman. The music is then pressed onto 180-gram vinyl LP and packaged in poly-lined paper sleeve with protective lining. Jacket is thick (24pt) stock and displays a full-bleed print of the vibrant cover photo taken by Sam First Records owner, Paul Solomon. Edition of 1,000, each copy displaying its own unique foil-stamped number.

Official Purchase Link

www.larrygoldings.com