This coming Friday, Resilience Music Alliance will release the album Connections featuring keyboardist Matthew Whitaker. This sixteen-track collection is his third album, and almost all of the recording took place between this past March 2 and March 4. As usual, the album is available for pre-order from an Amazon.com Web page; but readers should be aware that this Web page is almost entirely devoid of useful content. Those interested in a track listing will not find it unless they follow the hyperlink to the Web page for streaming and MP3 download. For further information, including the identify of those performing with Whitaker, the most accessible source is Whitaker’s Web page on the Resilience Music Alliance Web site.
There is an impressive breadth to Whitaker’s repertoire. At one end there is an approach to Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” that features violinist Regina Carter as guest artist. At the other there is an account of Chick Corea’s “Spain,” which was recorded a little less than a month after the composer’s death. Between these extremes the most impressive track (at least for me) was a piano duet interpretation of Thelonious Monk’s “Bye-Ya” with Jon Batiste as the second pianist. Finally, there are four tracks of Whitaker’s own compositions.
For all the virtues of the music itself, however, it is hard to avoid the nagging frustration that comes in trying to acquire any background knowledge. My “press download” included text file that included a little over four pages of track-by-track comments written by Whitaker. Sadly, I have yet to find a site that will include this file as part of the download. That file also accounts for all of the musicians that joined Whitaker in performances of the individual tracks and even a few interesting tidbits about the recording processes. Some of that information is included on Whitaker’s Web page; but, given the impressive approach to programming this album, those wishing to learn more deserve better treatment.
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