For those unaware, pianist Noah Haidu sees a certain irony in his current recorded output. “I love composing but improvisation has always been my greatest passion. When I started releasing music in 2011 I relied on my songwriting to make a unique artistic statement, but I’ve come full circle and realized that finding my own voice on a simple, unadorned standard is a rare and necessary endeavor.”

Haidu embraced that endeavor on his 2023 release Standards and again on his 2024 release Standards II and does so once again on his follow-up to them both, the third in the trilogy entitled Standards III (out now via Sunnyside Records).

1. Yesterdays
2. Lover
3. Things Ain’t What They Used To Be
4. A Child is Born
5. Alone Together
6. After You’ve Gone (6:04)
7. Casual
8. Old Folks
9. Stevie W.
10. Tonight ... Teach ... Me
11. Teach Me Tonight

Complete with Haidu’s clear, light touch bringing forth some of the most magical of musical renderings here on this third album, it opens on the confidently impressive Yesterdays and a rather illuminous Lover and then comes forth the gracefully-sculpted Things Ain’t What They Used To Be and the entertaining A Child is Born (which both also feature bassist Buster Williams and drummer Billy Hart), with the rhythmically hearty, complete with dutifully catchy bass line of the Great American Songbook classic Alone Together along thereafter.

With four of the tracks here having been recorded back in 2023, the remaining seven recorded specifically for this session, along next the trio are also joined by Steve Wilson (alto saxophone), Peter Washington (bass), and Lewis Nash (drums) for the strongly compositional Slipstream, which is backed by the trio’s glorious interpretation of Chappell Roan’s anthem Casual, and then comes a highly impassioned Old Folks, the soulful sounds of Stevie W. (along with both Williams and Hart; the song a nod to Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”), the set rounding out on some emboldened hipsway shown veined throughout Tonight ... Teach ... Me, closing on Teach Me Tonight, where Haidu brings his own compelling brand of pianism into the spotlight one last time.

Musicians:
Noah Haidu- piano
Gervis Myles- bass
Charles Goold- drums

www.noahhaidu.com

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