Aktuell auf ‚Tangents’ spielt das elastisch agierende Trio, bestehend aus wahrhaft seelenverwandten Musikern, vor allem eigene Stücke, brillante Improvisationen, aber auch spannende Versionen von zwei Klassikern, die viele mit Bill Evans assoziieren: ‚Blue In Green‘ und ‚Spartacus Love Theme‘. Tief emotionale Klangskulpturen, farbenreich und immer wieder überraschend.
Werner Rosenberger, Kurier
Nach wie vor ist Peacock rhythmischer Pulshalter und melodischer Impulsgeber in Personalunion. Doch agiert dieses Trio ausgewogen demokratisch. Baron ist ein zuhörender, subtil akzentuierender Drummer jenseits des Autoritären, und Copeland verbindet mit Peacock eine absolut zuverlässige Intuition. Das ergibt eine reife Musik, die dem Moment vertrauen kann […] Exzellent!
Ulrich Steinmetzger, Jazzthing
Dass ein Bass durchaus als Zentrum eines Trios taugt, beweist Peacock auf ‘Tangents’ ein weiteres Mal.
Janko Tietz, Literaturspiegel
As a bassist, Gary Peacock has always been a stealth virtuoso. What he plays often requires phenomenal speed and facility, but the power and originality of his music invariably draw the listener’s attention away from Peacock’s technical prowess. Even though it opens with a remarkable solo statement that stretches from thumb position down to the lowest reaches of the fingerboard, ‘Tangents’ is unlikely to change that notion. […] the group’s defining character remains the all-in equality of its interplay, maintaining a creative balance between piano, bass and drums regardless sof whether the music is conventionally structured, like Miles Davis’’Blue In Green’, or as open-ended as Peacock’s title tune.
J.D. Considine, Downbeat
A set of mostly Peacock compositions – with Alex North’s love theme from ‘Spartacus’ and Miles Davis’s classic ‘Blue in Green’A set of mostly Peacock compositions – with Alex North’s love theme from ‘Spartacus’ and Miles Davis’s classic ‘Blue in Green’ thrown in for good measure – veers from ruminative abstraction to tender lyricism to joyous swing without losing the intense focus of three old hands, masters of their respective instruments, who have the courage and the humility to let the music decide where it wants to go. thrown in for good measure – veers from ruminative abstraction to tender lyricism to joyous swing without losing the intense focus of three old hands, masters of their respective instruments, who have the courage and the humility to let the music decide where it wants to go.
Cormac Larkin, Irish Times
Gerade die Lesung von ‚Spartacus‘ ist dem Trio der Altmeister in vorzüglicher Weise gelungen, die Schönheit der Melodie strahlt in einem verhangenen Zwielicht. Überhaupt sind in puncto Kreativität bei den drei Musikern keinerlei Alterserscheinungen erkennbar, das beweist nicht zuletzt die einzige freie Improvisation des Albums. ‚Empty Forest‘ ist von der deutlich erkennbaren Neugier des Aufeinander-Hörens geprägt und entwickelt seine Ideen langsam, aber stetig.
Rolf Thomas, Jazzthetik
Empfindsame Balladen wie ‘December Greenwings’, das von Klangschattierungen des Drummers eingeleitete ‚Empty forest‘, in dem sich Copland und Peacock mit impressionistischen melodiefolgen angleichen, und die unbeschwerte Liedhaftigkeit ovn ‚Rumblin‘‘ verleihen der Produktion einen Platz in der Königsklasse der gegenwärtigen Pianotrios.
Gerd Filtgen, Stereo
‘Tangents’ has to be considered a highlight in the careers of all three artists, as the too-often hyperbole of creative improvisation is exchanged for masterful and unequaled demonstrations of the art—and one of the best piano trio albums in some time.
Karl Ackermann, All About Jazz
Die Tangenten, mit denen die drei ihre Themen umgeben, sind keine dicken, wie mit Filzstift gezogenen Linien, sondern haarfeine, filigrane Annäherungen. Nicht die Menge der hervorgebrachten Töne bestimmt die Klasse eines Trios, sondern wie sie sich zueinander verhalten. Dieses Trio führt keinen Wettlauf mit der Zeit. Es gönnt sich die Freiräume, lässt Zwischenräume. Nicht durch Einzelfeatures, sondern durch den fein gewobenen Zusammenklang entstehen elf einzigartige, luftige Stücke, deren innere Harmonie aus der Fähigkeit eines jeden resultiert, die Gedanken der Partner bereits im Entstehen zu erahnen, sorgsam aufzugreifen und liebevoll zu vollenden.
Werner Stiefele, Rondo
It’s a democratic and well-balanced group engaged in a three-way process of music making. The creative push/pull of the players and the way they give each other plenty of unaccompanied solo space can perhaps be heard to best advantage on the title track and the group improvisation ‘Empty Forest’, though the readings of Miles Davis’s ‘Blue in Green’ and Alex North’s theme for ‘Spartacus’ display just as much musical intelligence and inobviousness. Peacock composed five of the eleven pieces on ‘Tangents’, and they’re sparse and nicely open-ended, a good stimulus for improvisers. Peacock, Baron and Copland consistently get the best out of them, and each other.
Brian Marley, London Jazz News
Peacock’s biting rhythmic phrases, textural nuances and melodic folk-song sensibilities are indeed a perfect foil for Copland’s thoughtfully imaginative harmonies.
Selwyn Harris. Jazzwise
Peacock is careful not to allow any of the eleven pieces to gather any figurative moss or collected dust. His warm and responsive strings are central in the sound spectrum with frequent solos that fold seamlessly into the trajectories of the tunes without disrupting the flow. Copland and Baron are just as centered […] The best improvised music is exceptionally conversational. Eavesdropping on these three allows for just that enviable quality.
Derek Taylor, Dusted Magazine
For me the real highlight of this excellent set is the 7 minutes free improvisation, 'Empty Forest' (track 6). In the liner notes, Peacock says, ‘It was just: 'start'. Marc, Joey and I are ideally suited to free playing together, the three of us. We're having the same experience in the moment, feeling the music together.’ The freedom that they display on this track is evident right across the set, and it was really a joy and an honour to be able (as a listener) to have some of the 'experience in the moment' that they shared during the recording.
Chris Baber, Jazz Views
Hier erlebt man die reduziert-elegante Strahlkraft des Zen-Meisters am Kontrabass in unverstellter Wirkkraft und jener gelassen pulsenden Intensität, wie sie wohl nur 60 Jahre Erfahrung so souverän hervorbringen können. Statt breit ausgewalzter Melodik und verdichteter Aktion demonstrieren die drei mit ruhigem Selbstbewusstsein, wie man allein durch Zuhören und Reagieren unter Zurücknahme des eigenen Egos gemeinsam Spannungsbögen schafft, die zwischen filigraner Klangkunst und delikatem Drive wechseln. Da sitzt jeder Ton, bilden Peacock, Copland und Baron eine Einheit, die mehr ist als die Summer ihrer Teile – schlicht bezaubernd.
Sven Thielmann, HiFi Records
Fronting a trio on ‘Tangents’, Peacock delivers his own take on pared back modernism, across a programme of mostly original compositions. It sounds like pianist Marc Copland and drummer Joey Baron are all ears for Peacock, as he pulls these deliciously lean tunes in and out of focus, sometimes leaving the accompanists hanging until his bass stalks back in. Peacock famously played alongside the late, great Bill Evans, too, and his covers of two tunes associated with the pianist, ‘Spartacus’ and ‘Blue In Green’, are tender and true.
Garry Booth, BBC Music Magazine
Peacock, at the age of 82, is still displaying immense creative powers after more than six decades of recording (…) The empathy of the trio is extraordinary, but these are truly master musicians, and the album is packed with glorious moments – real jewels of improvising.
John Watson, Jazz Camera
It comes as no surprise that Tangents, a most visceral and poetic affair, wraps around the listener and intimately places him/her in the present while pianist Marc Copland and drummer Joey Baron lock into conversations that wind, reveal, and break free. ‘Contact’ the fluid, Peacock-penned opener, comes to its grace slowly as the bassist and pianist feel each other out, then as Baron finds his place and the piece takes flight. Baron's ‘Cauldron’ at first appears to be searching for direction, then finds its tight focus. Copland, whose subtlety and suppleness opens to any harmonic possibility, is absolutely on his game with the elongated, free form ‘Empty Forest,’ and the restive, yet imagistic renderings of two Bill Evans' treasures ‘Blue On Green’ and the cinematic ‘Spartacus.’ ‘Rumblin'’ is an especially bouncy and earthy dance while the revisit of Peacock's ‘December Greenwings’ allows ample airspace for each player to find something new. Another quiet triumph.
Mike Jurkovic, All About Jazz
