Sean Fyfe Quartet - Late Night (January 2022 Cellar Live)

Sean Fyfe is a New York based Canadian pianist. He began playing piano at age 5, and was immersed in jazz at age 14 in high school. He has completed performance degrees in piano at McGill University, and Manhattan School of Music, and brings a style to the piano heavily influenced by Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly and McCoy Tyner. He has worked with some of Canada's finest musicians, including Andre White, Dave Laing, Kevin Dean, Tony Genge, Sean Drabitt, Al McLean and Sam Kirmayer.

Here's some album background from Dave Laing.

It never fails to amaze how a musician’s personality comes through so clearly in their music. This is especially true for improvisers. Composers may write the most wistful, or coltish, or uninhibited of melodic themes (and Sean certainly does all of that and more with this musical offering); but the performer in the act of improvisation really has nowhere to hide. Even if they wanted to only offer up well-worn clichés, or drench their solos in complex harmonic decoration, or devoutly channel past musical heroes, the very act of performance still inevitably reveals the soul behind the sound. And in fact what Sean and his bandmates all do instead is express their individuality with a deep knowledge of the tradition, a hard-earned understanding of music’s mechanics, and the absorption of lessons learned from past masters.

Sean Fyfe has become something of a vagabond as he roams about the globe and it is coming through in the cosmopolitan nature of his music. He originally hails from the expansive natural beauty of Vancouver Island before formative residencies in Montreal and New York, prior to his current home base of London, England. The group Sean has assembled here comprise his Montreal collaborators: veteran rhythm section masters Adrian Vedady on bass and drummer André White, along with guitarist Sam Kirmayer—a close contemporary of Sean’s who has performed and recorded with Sean on numerous occasions.

This collection of original compositions starts off with the aptly titled Happy, a bright and open melody that sets tone for the whole outing. The mood shifts on Late Night, a wistful and nostalgic composition set in ¾ time navigated by Sean and guitarist Sam Kirmayer together before Sean, Sam, and Adrian knit together assured solos. Another change of direction leads us to the bluesy Little Pants, and here Adrian and André set up a deep groove for Sean and Sam to tell their heartfelt stories.

Sean’s solo reading of Billy Strayhorn’s Lush Life is a capricious tour-de-force. The introduction is delivered with textbook pianistic melancholy before Sean takes us through the main melody in a more orchestral arrangement with momentary stops and starts along the way, all the while revealing his deft touch and abundant soulfulness.

We return to the ensemble with Needful, and Sean’s solo displays a ranging, impatient virtuosity that is a joy for us listeners back down here on the ground to follow.

Sam and his singing, vibrant tone lead the way on Stella, another of Sean’s clever compositions. Sam and Sean provide contrasting yet equally elegant, polished solos before Adrian offers the final word prior to the return of the melody.

Next up is To Wes, a tribute to American guitarist Wes Montgomery, a major influence for both Sean and Sam alike. The tempo-shifting razzle-dazzle provided by André and Adrian sets the stage for spacious explorations by Sam and Sean before André is released on his own to maneuver the maze.

The set ends with Sean’s bop-inspired composition Validation, a melody crafted on Charlie Parker’s Confirmation. I would suggest that this tune and this recording as a whole validates his presence as player and composer to admire and celebrate. Among the many moods that Sean calls forth with his music, perhaps joyfulness is the most dominant. And we come full circle from the opener Happy, as Sean makes a sly musical reference to Harold Arlen’s Get Happy, during his solo on Validation. No doubt he was feeling particularly pleased to share his abundant talents while leading such a stellar group of players through his music. Forget your troubles, indeed. 

1. Happy 05:34

2. Late Night 06:32

3. Little Pants 08:10

4. Lush Life 04:11

5. Needful 06:50

6. Stella 07:00

7. To Wes 06:05

8. Validation 04:36

Sean Fyfe - Piano

Sam Kirmayer - Guitar

Adrian Vedady - Bass

Andre White - Drums

Executive Producer: Cory Weeds

Produced by Sean Fyfe

Recorded at Planet Studios on May 3 - 4th, 2021

Engineered by Juan Gomez

Mixed and mastered by Eli Krantzberg

Design and layout by John Sellards

Cover Photo by Jeff Spielman

PRE-ORDER

Sam Kirmayer - Opening Statement (2017)

1. Synecdoche 07:05

2. For All We Know 05:58

3. Jiro's Dream 07:32

4. Resonance After Dark 06:44

5. My Shining Hour 05:30

6. The Night We Called It A Day 08:49

7. One For Pete 08:32

8. Opening Statement 05:14

Sam Kirmayer: guitar

Sean Fyfe: piano

Mike De Masi: bass

Dave Laing: drums

To put out a successful debut record, today’s jazz artists need to have a strong band, a clear vision for their music and an established voice on their instrument. Montreal-based guitarist Sam Kirmayer’s upcoming release, Opening Statement, demonstrates that he has all this in spades, and lots of entrepreneurial spirit to boot.

Self-produced, funded through a combination of grants and released on the budding Montreal-based label Chromatic Audio, the recording was made at a turning point in the 27-year-old’s quickly developing career.

“I was thinking of doing the record before I finished my undergrad degree in jazz performance at McGill,” Kirmayer explained in a recent interview. “I didn’t want to finish school and then try to find my bearings, but wanted to come out with a trajectory. I saw the record as something to work towards, and once I got out of school I said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’”

“Soon after I started writing some music and decided that I wanted to have a band to play these tunes, this group came to mind," he continued. "Pianist Sean Fyfe and I have been playing together since my second year at McGill, while bassist Mike De Masi and drummer Dave Laing were guys whose playing I really liked and was always trying to get good enough to be able to play with!"

As Kirmayer tells it, the album’s instrumentation was influenced as much by the music he was composing as his concept for the record itself. While writing the tunes, he heard many of the melodies being played by guitar, which lined up with his idea of it acting as the album’s primary melodic voice.

“I really like playing in a lot of different formats, but as a guitarist, there aren’t many opportunities to be in front of the band," he said. "In other types of groups, I mostly end up accompanying other horn players and soloists. Even though I love that, I thought that this album could be an opportunity to be in the front line.”

The music itself is a mix of Kirmayer’s bop-oriented originals and carefully chosen jazz standards, which reflects his musical taste and approach to leading a group. Each track features a memorable melody embedded in a slick arrangement, and provides lots of space for the band members to improvise.

“I like writing music, but I want to write to create space for people to play. I don’t want to tell people what to do too much. I try to compose material that’s challenging, interesting and different enough from the standard repertoire, but still allows the listener to hear the player’s individuality. I don’t want my compositions to be so weighty that they supress the player from expressing themselves.”

For anyone, the record-making process has its challenges, both musical and otherwise. Kirmayer explained that the financial realities of making an album on his own dime made for a lot of stress, especially since there was no chance for a do-over at a later date. However, it turned into a good exercise in staying focused in the moment and offered a chance to get deep into the band’s repertoire.

“As high-pressure as it is, I really loved being in the studio. The recording process turned into a week of focusing ourselves on the music, which isn’t something we often get the chance to do. Even when you’re gigging all the time, you usually do totally different music with different bands for every show. It’s not common that you get to play the same handful of tunes and really bear down on them. We had a gig the night before the recording session, and Sean was staying at my place so we rehearsed for a couple of days before the date. It was great to be in the studio and have this feeling that everything else in your life has cleared away for you to do this."

Opening Statement will be released on April 23; you can pre-order the album here.