10 JAZZTIMES SEPTEMBER 2019
tunes. Only two of the 13 tracks are Jost
compositions. The others come from the
Great American Songbook, jazz, folk,
and pop. Some are unusual choices. “I
want the lyrics to a song to trigger some
kind of life experience that I can relate
to,” Jost says. “I have done some acting,
and I look for a backstory, like actors do.
Only the actor knows the backstory, but
the audience feels it.”
“Everybody’s Talkin’,” composed by
Fred Neil, was made famous by Harry
Nilsson in the soundtrack to the film
Midnight Cowboy. The lyrics have always
been ambiguous. (Back in the day, some
people wondered what the song had to
do with the film.) Jost imagines his own
movie for “Everybody’s Talkin’,” a movie4Ì
omain Collin felt the need to
stir things up. The French-
born pianist and composer
had devoted his career to honing his
craft, earning full scholarships first to
the Berklee College of Music and then
to the Thelonious Monk Institute of
Jazz, where he was part of an ensembleselected by Herbie
Hancock, Wayne
Shorter, and Terence
Blanchard. Working
within the piano-trio
format, Collin’s first
three albums as a
leader were ambitious,
featuring songs frequently described as
cinematic for their majestic heft.
Still, Collin didn’t believe that his
work had adequately taken into account
the broad swath of music he’d ab-
sorbed and wanted to express. Those
constraints have been cast aside on
Tiny Lights... (XM), an audacious andStretching Out
French pianist ROMAIN COLLIN takes
an elastic approach to sound and
instrumentation on his new albumRomain Collin
and his Taurusabout someone in the early stages of
mental unraveling. He says, “My writing
now often takes the form of arranging.”
The arrangement, with Johnson’s omi-
nous bass ostinato and Jost’s disembod-
ied spoken words, is chilling.
“The Touch of Your Lips,” normally a
quiet, heartfelt ballad, is also contrarian.
Jost burns on it and blows. He sounds
effortless when he scats, with a blend
of energy and precision may reflect his
background as a drummer. “Girl from
the North Country” is Bob Dylan’s
simplest, most poignant love song; Jost’s
phrasing creates new hesitations in its
flow, and his world-wise voice reveals
new textures of emotion. His version
of “Shenandoah” simply lingers on thebeauty of the song, with rapt interludes
by Ridl, Johnson, and Jost on harmonica.
“As a sideman I got to see some great
singers firsthand: Mark Murphy, Billy
Eckstine, Sylvia Syms, Morgana King,”
he says. “I liked the stylists. They found
a way to tell the story.”
As for his gentle interpretation of
“The Folks Who Live on the Hill,” Jost
says, “All the songs are there for a rea-
son. I’m going to be a grandfather for the
third time. The lyrics are just a storyline
from my life. They’re saying, ‘If you stick
with me, we might make this journey
together. Maybe we’ll build a house on a
hill and have a family.’ In my life, thank
God, things have kind of turned out that
way.” THOMAS CONRADmeticulous swirl of
chamber-fusion jazz
created with electric
and acoustic instru-
ments and released in
three parts throughout
April and May.
“I’ve never been this
proud of a collection
of sound that I am pre-
senting to an audience,”
Collin enthuses.
The genesis of the
project came when
Collin’s friend, pro-
ducer/engineer Jeremy
Loucas, played him
some music featur-
ing the Moog Taurus
bass pedal synthesizer, perhaps most
closely associated with prog-rock bands
like Genesis and Rush, and suggest-
ed he take it up. Collin held off—“it’s
daunting learning a new instrument,”
he says—but he was intrigued enough
to start writing material for the Taurus,
piano, guitar and drums. As the songs
flowed, he bought a used Taurus (the
last new one was built in 2012) and
became adept enough to start searching
for a fresh group to play them.
He had shared gigs around New York
with Obed Calvaire, and remembered
the drummer’s curiosity and attention
to detail when it came to beats and sonic
textures. After hearing a couple of earlyOPENING CHORUS
SHERVIN^LAINEZx Video: Romain Collin performs “Follow”