Dan Cray Trio
Chicago, Illinois, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
Album Review of "No One"
The pianist I hear most as an influence on No One is Ahmad Jamal. His distinctive method of breaking up time is very prominent on this CD. The propulsive, clipped time of the bass and drums make a good platform Dan Cray's busy soloing. A touch of "Sketches Of Spain" haunts the Midwestern reflections of the lovely "Time Window," while "Avalon" is built on an unexpectedly soulful and urgent bass line from Clark Sommers and a creeping tension that continually builds pressure in the piece.
The two Monk tunes are rethought in interesting ways. "Epistrophy" is powered by tumbling drums and a repetitive piano counter-melody on the chords, while "In Walked Bud" is where the Jamal influence is most evident. Cray chops the melody into bits then rumbles along in a clipped, percussive fashion with Sommers and Wyser-Pratt adding heft to the sound. This group as a lot of intriguing ideas to spruce up the familiar piano trio format, most as interesting, if not more, than the celebrated Bad Plus. This is an excellent CD that is well worth seeking out.
- Cadence Magazine
Review of "No One" by Craig Hurst
Dan Cray, an Evanston Illinois based, Bill Evans inspired pianist and his trio take a romp through eight standards and three original compositions on the CD No One. But what a romp! This listener has concluded that Dan Cray is somewhat of an impressionist. Like the turn of the 20th century Parisian painters and composers whose work led to merely “suggest” a particular scene or sound, so to does much of Dan Cray’s work on No One. On some standard tunes Cray completely omits the melody playing only the changes as though to suggest the listener already knows the tune and should be creative on their own in what might be heard to his accompaniment. There are times when Cray slightly modifies a well-known melody just enough to draw in the listener who recognizes the difference. It is sort of like telling an “inside” joke that only the “informed” would fully understand. More than once Cray also will approach a tune by avoiding playing the head until well into an introduction that basically deconstructs and expands the tune before we hear it. Such is the case on the trio’s performance of the standard “Avalon.” The trio plays an extended introduction before the group melds into a smooth and swinging up-tempo delivery of the head. The recognizable melody comes across as serving more as an aural sorbet to the group’s previous improvisations and a respite before the trio again trails off into a new groove and approach that is thinly connected, but in its evolution, also continually removes itself from the original tune.
Bass player Clark Sommers contributes two original compositions for the recording. “Time Window,” is a sensitive and pensive sounding ballad evoking thoughts of loss and melancholy, that includes some interesting percussion effects by drummer Greg Wyser-Pratte using what sounds like mallets on his drums along with shimmering cymbal sounds behind the melody of Cray’s piano. In contrast, Sommers’ other original “The Simpleton” is much more of a piece emoting sentimentality and remembrance again enhanced by the tasteful drumming of Wyser-Pratte. The original penned by leader Cray, the title track “No One,” is an easy swinging medium tempo piece. Cray’s composition is full of echoes of the music of Thelonious Monk, however Cray’s approach to the piano is still more closely akin to the delicate touch of Bill Evans rather than the heavier splayed finger accents of Monk.
Other tunes on the CD include two of Monk’s compositions, a machine-like driving “Epistrophy” and a somewhat less definitely rhythmically centered “In Walked Bud.” In both cases Cray and his band mates provide a fresh reading and a new spin on these jazz classics. Also, the trio’s rendition of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Woody N’ You” holds firmly to the tradition of bebop at first, then during improvisation shows us whole another way to go. “For All We Know” provides another very pretty tune and Horace Parlan’s “Wadin” gives the CD a little soul. No One by Dan Cray is a recording full of interesting twists that delight the listener, and also some very high level musicianship and artistry. It is a recording that would be a delight to most any listener and certainly a welcome addition to any jazz aficionado’s collection.
- Jazzreview.com
"Save Us" Album Review by Jim Santella
Jazz's modern mainstream has to preserve tradition while exploring unique approaches. It's got to grow. A lot of folks translate the concept of uniqueness into something “far out” and “hip” and “never before attempted.” But stretching the boundaries of jazz to its limits has drawbacks. Some push too far and become alienated. Some water down the jazz with outside sources that prove discomforting. Many of today's innovators simply sell out. If they turn away from the core music that brought us here, then they've failed.
Dan Cray preserves the straightahead tradition with his Chicago-based piano trio, yet he finds new ways to interpret it. Like a poet or a painter who searches constantly for new ways to express himself without losing his core focus, the pianist has succeeded in recreating Cole Porter, Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, and Horace Silver with aplomb. They're the same old songs, but they're interpreted with a fresh, new outlook.
The trio's version of “Just One of Those Things” makes a dramatic impact. Cray moves the familiar theme in suite-like fashion through different scenes that reflect changing moods. Together, the threesome forges ahead with widely different approaches for one theme. The pianist's dynamic strides give the piece new life.
After establishing the tune of a standard piece, Cray likes to jazz it up. Isn't that what it's all about? He takes each piece on a whirlwind ride, alters its texture to the foundation, and reinterprets it with authority. Meters change, moods fly back and forth, and the scene varies. His fresh approach comes loaded with a fiery, percussive piano attack one moment and a suave, comforting layer of harmony the next. Cray's “Good Morning” and “Good Bye” evoke misty moonlit impressions with introspective leanings that evolve into a confident strut along with powerful reflections.
“Trinkle Tinkle” comes loaded with a refreshing new texture as the trio drives it with raw power. “Night Dreamer” appears before us with an exotic façade that remains personal and up close. “Summer in Central Park” finds the trio floating along on its laissez-faire theme with added sparks entering the scene to fire this way and that. Cray builds each of his selections from the ground up, transforming them from the usual to the unique without ever losing sight of tradition. Highly recommended.
- All About Jazz
"Save Us" Album Review by Thomas Conrad
Dan Cray has been compared to Ahmad Jamal. Cray does not have Jamal's touch or sense of musical space, but he shares Jamal's deep concern with group form. What is most interesting about Cray is not his considerable chops--there are piano chops around to burn these days--but his sophistication as a conceptualist. Like Jamal, he thinks about the piano trio orchestrally. Each of the 10 tracks on Save Us! is a complete design, and improvisation flows directly from the plan.
Most often that plan is a bold, creative assault on known material that transforms every structural element and leaves just enough of the song's skeleton in sight for recognition. Cray is also interested in the organic relationship between jazz past and jazz present. He strongly represents the latter, but chooses material with a rich history. His abstractions of "Without a Song" and "Just One of Those Things" and "When You Wish Upon a Star" are fearlessly liberated yet reveal their own inner logic.
The performance that permanently makes the case for Dan Cray is "If You Could See Me Now." This Tadd Dameron song needs no improvement, but Cray's painfully slow search through its possible connotations, returning to its ascending melodic affirmation over and over, never quite separating from it, understanding it anew, is a very good reason to buy this album.
- Jazz Times
Discography
The Dan Cray Trio: "Who Cares" (2001)
The Dan Cray Trio: "No One" (2003)
Marc Courtney Johnson: "Marc Johnson and the Dan Cray Trio" (2004)
John Goldman: "In Walked Pierre" (2005)
The Dan Cray Trio: "Save Us" (2005)
Erin McDougald: "Meeting Place" (2006)
Derrick Stout Quartet: "Life In Burma" (2007)
Marc Courtney Johnson: "Dream of Sunny Days" (2008)
Derrick Stout Quartet: "Melodies Under the Mistletoe" (2008)
The Dan Cray Trio: "Over Here/Over Heard" (2008)
Photos
Bio
The Dan Cray Trio is unique in that it relies on a collaborative effort rather than the singular vision that is more typically found in a piano trio. This in turn has allowed the group to rise above the pick-up band mentality that has come to dominate the jazz landscape. Because each musician is equally invested in the development of the music, the Trio is able to match the intensity and clarity of purpose that define the best jazz artists. Their innovative arrangements and group dynamic have led Cadence Magazine to rate them "as interesting, if not more, than the celebrated Bad Plus." The Trio's music has been featured on the hit television show "Gossip Girl," Michael Keaton's new movie "The Merry Gentleman," and the radio program Eight Forty-Eight with host Steve Edwards on Chicago's NPR station WBEZ. They've performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival and at venues around the country to critical success, and can be seen regularly around Chicago with the city's top vocalists and instrumentalists. The Trio has also been able to transfer this focus into tangible success, as their last 2 CDs ("No One" and "Save Us") spent over 10 weeks on the National and College Jazz Charts, while Chicago's NPR station WBEZ named each among the year's best in 2003 and 2005 respectively.
Dan Cray
Pianist Dan Cray is one of the most dynamic young jazz artists working today. Jazz Radio Berlin has hailed him as a "key figure when it comes to escorting jazz into the new millennium," while the Indianapolis Star enthused that his playing had "both the depth and the playfulness characteristic of jazz piano at its best." Dan was a finalist for both the 2004 American Pianists Association Cole Porter Fellowship and the 2003 Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition, and has performed around the world with his group and others. For the past 10 years, Dan has led a group with good friends bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Greg Wyser-Pratte. Together they've released four CDs as the Dan Cray Trio; Who Cares (2001), No One (Blujazz 2003), Save Us (Blujazz 2005), and Over Here Over Heard (Crawdad 2008). Dan has also been privileged to work with a number of other established jazz musicians and ensembles, including Eddie Johnson, Bobby Broom, Ira Sullivan, Orbert Davis, Eric Schneider, George Fludas, Kurt Elling, Ari Brown and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. He also works frequently in a duo context with saxophonist Geof Bradfield. In early 2009, Dan joined the Chicago Improvisers Orchestra led by esteemed composer Elbio Barilari. Performances of multi-movement suites dedicated to Lincoln and Obama were performed at Millenium Park in Chicago and at other venues across the city. Dan is currently splitting his time between New York and Chicago, continuing to pursue his career while working on a Masters degree at NYU. He completed his undergraduate work at Northwestern University, where he studied with Donald Isaak and Michael Kocour.
Clark Sommers
Based in Chicago, Clark is a highly in demand bassist who has toured and performed extensively throughout the world. He has performed with Cedar Walton, Kevin Mahogany, Kurt Elling, Ira Sullivan, Frank Wess, Charles McPherson, Von Freeman, Lin Haliday, Maurice Brown, Bobby Broom, Jeff Parker, Ron Perrillo, Jodie Christian, Michael Weiss, George Fludas, Dana Hall, Kimberly Gordon, Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls, and The Chicago Jazz Orchestra. For two years, Clark performed and toured with Sony Recording Artists “The Mighty Blue Kings,” an internationally recognized rhythm and blues band. Clark was the bassist on their critically acclaimed album “Live from Chicago,” and received significant local and national media exposure. During his stint with MBK, he also performed at international jazz festivals in the US, Ireland, France and Canada, sharing bills with Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, B.B. King, Dr. John, The Staples Singers, Koko Taylor and Buddy Guy. Clark's touring experience also extends to Asia. In Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea he performed with the Eden Atwood Quartet.
Clark completed his undergraduate degree in Jazz Studies at California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with bass masters Charlie Haden and Darek Oles. While living in Los Angeles, Clark performed with Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, the Charlie Haden Liberation Orchestra, Joe La Barbara Sextet, Los Angeles Jazz Quartet, Kris Tiner, Anthony Enns, Jason Mears, and Larry Koonse.
Greg Wyser-Pratte
Drummer Greg Wyser-Pratte has enjoyed a wide variety of musical experiences despite his relatively late start with percussion instruments. Coming from a musical family, Greg was encouraged to explore his interest in the creative arts. He started on piano and played trumpet for nine years before discovering his love for jazz drumming at age 18. Greg enrolled at Northwestern University, where he received a well-rounded musical education and had the opportunity to perform with jazz masters including Ron Blake, Ray Bro
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