"Nightscape" (Reservoir) is the kind of piano trio set, were you hearing it live in a club, you could hang with all night. It conjures up echoes of Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, Red Garland and Wynton Kelly, to name a few of jazz's most spellbinding keyboard players.
As an ensemble, Jon Mayer, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Roy McCurdy connect rhythmically and emotionally, which translates into a seductive time feeling (often riding on Reid's walking lines) and mood throughout.
Mayer's keyboard style is an ideal blend of spare Jamalish tinkling, longer lines and a buoyant flow of chords. The trio has performed together long enough to perfect the art of ensemble accents, and this compounds the swing and momentum of these performances. Performances such as "The Touch of Your Lips," "Day by Day," Dancing in the Dark" and "So in Love" - standards included in the great American songbook. Elsewhere, Mayer's title tune and saxophonist Harold Land's "Rapture" convey a haunting nightclub atmosphere despite this being a studio date.
