Taylor Eigsti

Let It Come To You

Concord Jazz CCD-30330

            Pianist Taylor Eigsti (pronounced EYEG-STEE) has released to the jazz world yet another gem - Let It Come To You. It's his second album for Concord Jazz Records and his sixth overall release. Coming off the heels of Lucky To Be Me, which the 23-year-old keyboard whiz garnered two Grammy nods last year, the new project encompasses Eigsti's passion for creatively remolding jazz standards while creating future jazz standards of his own.

The eleven-track disk showcases refurbished standards by Cole Porter and Duke Ellington and so-called "new standards" by Wayne Shorter and Pat Metheny as well as four mind-blowing originals. The CD features Eigsti's expressive piano as well as members of his working band: Julian Lage, guitar; Reuben Rogers, bass; and Eric Harland, drums. The album also features musical guest commentary from tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman; Edmar Castandea on Columbian harp; Dayna Stephens and Ben Wendel, tenor saxophones; Evan Francis, flute; and Aaron McLendon, drums.

Redman blows away the competition on Metheny's Timeline, dedicated to the late saxophonist Michael Brecker, while Eigsti and Lage share a playful duet on Antonio Carlos Jobim's Portrait In Black And White. Lage also helps Eigsti to put a feisty Afro-Cuban spin on Ellington's Caravan.

Castanda and Eigisti blend well together on a peppery version of Fever, where Eigisti showcases his light-fingered but fluid sense of improvisation.

Eigsti's penchant for tastefulness glows like hot embers on the album's title track, Let It Come To You. A pensive piece, Let It Come To You is layered with some imaginative background textures that exhibits invitation and warmth.

Where this album sparkles is in Eigsti's three-part Fallback Plan Suite, which features superb work by Stephens, Wendel, and Francis. Reminiscent in many ways of Ellington's "suites," Eigsti's composition challenges listeners to a stimulating and yet very candid story line about the young musician's life.

Let It Come To You has Grammy Award written all over it.

Track selections:  I Love You, Timeline, Not Ready Yet, Caravan, Portrait In Black And White, Deluge, Fever, Let It Come To You, Less Free Will (Part I: Fallback Plan Suite), Not Yet Lost (Part II: Fallback Plan Suite), Brick Steps (Part III: Fallback Plan Suite).

Recorded at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA (April 2-4, 2007) and Hyde Street Studios, San Francisco, CA (Oct. 15, 2007).

- Stephen Fratallone/Jazz Connection Magazine

Rating:  *****