For those unaware, pianist, improviser and composer, b>Alister Spence has established a reputation as a creative force in jazz and improvised music in Australia and beyond. He has performed with and composed for some of the world’s finest musicians.

The title of Always Ever, the absorbing new album from Australian pianist and composer Alister Spence, suggests a wellspring of sound and inspiration that gazes beyond the present moment into the infinite. An ambitious, singular and deeply personal collection of inventions and experiments, the album ventures further down the path on which the pianist embarked with his acclaimed 2020 album Whirlpool, which All About Jazz hailed as “a good place to hear [Spence’s] uncommon imagination at work.”

Always Ever consists of 16 wholly improvised pieces, each one approaching the piano from a distinct perspective - some showcase the improvisatory versatility that have made Spence one of the preeminent jazz pianists in Australia stretching back to his days with the internationally renowned group Clarion Fracture Zone; others transform the sonics of the piano through a variety of eclectic preparations and approaches.

1. Mystic
2. Determination
3. Play of Light
4. Distant Cousins
5. Afternoon at Rancom Street
6. Begin from the Middle
7. Rain Phase
8. Semi-Formal Garden
9. Tonal Dance
10. Halo
11. Sparkler
12. Searchlight
13. Top Spinner
14. Random Access Counterpoint
15. Talking Slowly with Lorikeets
16. Scrape Rattle Strike

With Spence explaining “the playing of the piano for me has expanded to encompass the whole piano, more than just playing the keys,” he opens on the patiently sculpted Mystic, the flourishing Determination and the frenetically charged Play of Light, and then we are graced with the cannily crafted Distant Cousins, the sweeping confidence shown within Afternoon at Rancom Street, the stoic Begin from the Middle, before we are brought forth the emotive Rain Phase and the playfully alert Semi-Formal Garden.

Along next are his impassioned intricacies that thrive within Tonal Dance, the luxuriant Halo and the effecting Sparkler, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the more tonal Searchlight, the more strident fare of Top Spinner, and the measured Random Access Counterpoint, and then the new set rounds out on the delicately embracing Talking Slowly with Lorikeets, coming to a close on the aptly-titled Scrape Rattle Strike.

Whirlpool marked the beginning of an investigatory new chapter in Spence’s nearly four decade career, his first solo outing and the introduction of an expansive palette of singular approaches to the piano. He delves deeper into that exploration on Always Ever, documenting a process of discovery into the boundless possibilities of the instrument that he’s played for his entire life.

Official Purchase Link

www.alisterspence.com

Alister Spence @ Instagram