JOELFORRESTER.COM

      REVIEWS

Joel Roberts,    January 2005 (A longtime contributor to www.allaboutjazz.com, Joel Roberts is by day the politics producer at CBSNews.com)
Joel Forrester has had a fascinating career. He studied piano with Thelonious Monk, scored early Andy Warhol films, wrote the theme for the popular NPR show Fresh Air , accompanied silent films at the Louvre, and spent years as a principal member of the fondly remembered Microscopic Septet..

He's also been the driving force between one of the liveliest bands in town, People Like Us, a quartet devoted to Forrester's quirkily intelligent compositions. Ever Wonder Why collects eleven new and not-so-new Forrester tunes, a typically eclectic assortment that highlights his winning mix of erudition and humor. For those familiar with Forrester, it's no surprise to find a novelty like “Bebop Cowpoke” alongside dedications to Mary Lou Williams and overlooked hard bop alto saxophonist Frank Strozier, as well as an earnest vocal choir reflecting on Sept. 11th.

As a pianist, Forrester is heavily influenced by Monk, along with Monk's stride and boogie-woogie predecessors. His primary foil is the marvelous baritone saxophonist Claire Daly, who shares his absurdist sensibility as well as his deep knowledge of the jazz vernacular. The fine rhythm section includes Dave Hofstra on bass and Ronnie Williams on drums, filling the chair held by the late, great Denis Charles.

This is serious music played by serious musicians who don't take themselves too seriously.


THE NEW YORKER,   June 1999
IT'S A MICROSCOPIC WORLD - Some of the most distinctive jazz of the past few years can be directly traced to the demise of the Microscopic Septet.  When that singular ensemble - which was acclaimed for its deft saxophone writing and daft sense of humor - split after eleven years, in 1992, its co-leaders, saxophonist Philip Johnston and pianist Joel Forrester, formed topflight bands of their own.

Joel Forrester leads People Like Us, a quartet that just released its third album, Believe It, which was recorded in 1997.  This piano virtuoso calls on his own set of jazz heroes - individualists like Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, James P. Johnson, and Herbie Nichols - to inform his writing and improvising.  Forrester's simpatico bandmadets - baritone saxophonist Claire Daly, drummer Denis Charles (a brilliant player who died unexplectedly last year), and bassist Dave Hofstra (who also plays in Johnston's band) - genereate an infectious rhythmic bounce that complements the formal grace of the leader's indelible tunes.  Subtle levity is still at the heart of much of Forrester and Johnston's music; thankfully, both bandleaders have abandoned the overt humor that sometimes obscured the brilliance and craftsmanship of the septet.

The Microscopic influence can also be heard on two other recent disks.  Claire Daly's Swing Low, a melodious set of imaginatively arranged standards and offbeat tunes, establishes her as our most gifted mainstream baritone saxiphonist; Joel Forrester and the Illustrious Others: Pre-Microscopic Music Circa 1980 1980 shows that Forrester and Johnston (who appears throughout) were, in their wayward youth, just as whip-smart and eager to follow roads less travelled as they are today.

THE NEW YORKER,    November 2000
188 Avenue B (212-358-1700) - Joel Forrester, the maestro fo the wonderful People Like Us ensemble, remains a most agreeably eclectic pianist, and among the most undervalued of jazz composers.  The sheer pleasure he brings to a panoply of styles, and to the individual way he absorbs them all, denotes comfort rather than scholarly erudition.  He's enthroned here at the keyboard Monday nights in November.


JAZZIZ ,   February 1999
A little looser, yet quite similar is In Heaven by People Like Us.  The music's singularity stems from pianist-leader Joel Forrester's distinctive tunes.  They should properly be called compositions - they're elaborate and rigorous enought to be deemed so.  But there's an intrinsic congeniality to Forrester's writing for this band.  It makes thoughtful, progressive improvising seem like the most joyous task around.
Dave Hofstra's animated bass is also part of this band, which includes the late Denis Charles on drums, and the baritone saxist Claire Daly.  From the gleefully bent salutation, "Straight Ahead", to thinfectious "Make Mine Music", the band gives the tunes a daft élan that suggests advanced ideas have many ways to avoid stuffiness.


THE PARIS FREE VOICE,   May 1996
Pianist, composer and arranger Joel Forrester is the kind of man who can turn a tune - or a jury - on its head.  Performing at Carnegie Hall for the Young Concert Artists awards, Forrester split the jury.  Whatever he's about, it's not compromise.  Maybe he got that from the times when he'd drop by and play for Thelonious Monk shortly before the great man's death.  Fully dressed, Monk would lie on top of his bead, listening to Forrester's playing in the adjoining room.  "It was the most acute form of musical criticism I've ever received," recalls Forrester.  "If he didn't like what I was playing, he'd just stretch his foot off the bed and kick the door shut!"

Monk's rigorous ears have served Forrester well.  Densely textured yet rippling with panache, his piano playing is a joy to hear.  Regarded as the world's finest improvisational accompanist to silent films, Forrester is in town for a weeklong gig at the Louvre, where he'll be providing live piano accompaniment to a series of silent films of the them of exotica.  And on May12 he'll be at L'Arganier jazz club with his trio, featuring John Betxh on drums and François Moutier on bass, paying homage to the great New Orleans pianist Meade Lux Lewis as part of the club's Sunday night tributes.  Forrester then plays solo piano at the appealing and atmospheric Pouchla bar north of Les Halles, May 17.