NEW RELEASE – THE NEW YORK SECOND

Pairing of piano and vibraphone works out beautifully for The New York Second, though the band is more dynamic live than on this studio date.  

Melancholy and carefully crafted tension and release pervades the repertoire of pianist Harald Walkate, whose band The New York Second released acclaimed concept albums like Music At Night (writer Aldous Huxley) and Room For Other People (photographer Vivian Maier).

Café Madrid is its sixth album, featuring permanent sidekicks Lorenzo Buffa on bass and drummer Max Sergeant on drums, as well as, on repeat since Music At Night, American-Norwegian vibraphonist Rob Waring.

Moody pieces instilled with sparingly dosed pop song movements and Debussy/Satie-ish motives and patterns, that’s Walkate’s thing and he’s doing it very well. Most convincingly in performance with the help of a strong rhythm section, as I’ve witnessed not long ago, probably because the Café Madrid repertoire alternated with other Walkate songs. Nothing wrong with cool and collected, but the Café Madrid album stretches it to its limit, going for the 70-minute mark. Kill your darlings.

Highlights include the lazy Latin groove of One Sunday, the hefty vamp and canny harmonic twist of Grow Your Own Fortune and the ephemeral And Then It’s Gone, inspired by a philosophical remark by Eric Dolphy on the fleeting nature of music.

Carving his own path as a mood maker, Walkate teaches a valid lesson: make use of what you’re good at, discard all pretense. In the pianist’s case, why bother striving to play like fellow brilliant countrymen Rob van Bavel or Peter Beets? He’s attentive to the needs of Waring, the prime soloist here with a snappy ringing sound and tasteful, impressionist style.

Both revel in the pleasure of So Long, Walkate’s sublime ‘effort to write a Real Book ballad’. A-typical tune of a simpatico cinematic jazz record.

Buy via Harald’s website here: https://haraldwalkate.com/shop/