CCMusic.com

Myra Melford is a polystylist, who draws on and creates multiple playing styles. In Alive In The House Of Saints these include stomping classic jazz piano with a funky attack of Horace Silver, gospel plangency, Keith Jarrett's country and blues lyricism, and Don Pullen-style free jazz episodes. Though from quite early in her career, Alive In The House Of Saints, Parts 1 and 2 is one of her finest recordings - high on the musical power spectrum, and one of the most exciting albums of piano jazz. The members of the trio respond organically to one another - their creative empathy is clear throughout. Reggie Nicholson is a great, rather neglected drummer who, on this session, is on dazzling form. The result is a consummate live performance, full of feeling, in which no one is wrong-footed. Melford is alive to everything she hears, responding in the moment to her musical partners.