Born in Busan, South Korea, and currently based in New York City, pianist Haeun Joo releases her second album, Just Gravity, on compact disc and digital January 16 via Brooklyn’s unstoppable fount of heightened improvisation, 577 Records. Alternating Joo solo with trio interactions of sharp, vibrant depth featuring bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Steven Crammer, the set is highly effective in showcasing Joo’s range of emotions and technical ability. This is assured music that holds promise for further growth.
Haeun Joo has cited Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, and Fred Hersch as primary influences. All three tangibly inform Joo’s playing on her debut We Will Find, which came out in 2021 on the Next Level label. Its eight selections offer a warm, contemplative quartet that stays largely inside (while not playing it safe) through the prowess of Matt Holman on trumpet and flugelhorn, Doug Weiss on bass, and Ronen Itzik joining Joo, who plays exceptionally well along with singing in a wordless style that’s joyousness is highly pleasurable to the ear.
There is no singing by Joo on Just Gravity, but the absence doesn’t register as a lack, as her latest builds a distinct temperament by taking big improvisational plunges without losing the lyrical quality that stood out on her debut. While this current of expressive beauty is most pronounced in the solo pieces, it is not lost amongst the trio action that widens the album’s musical reach.
Opening track “Salt and Silence” is, in some ways, Just Gravity in miniature. It starts calm and pretty and essentially solo (there are some subtle bowed accents by Tordini underneath), only to gradually unfold into a glorious thicket of three-way exploration. The interactions become considerably intense without tipping over into the harried.
That’s true even when the three are kicking up dense clouds of abstract dust. Listeners who hold the avant-garde as a jazz baseline will surely prefer Just Gravity to the often straight-ahead accessibility of We Will Find, but there’s still plenty across Joo’s new one for fans of her debut.
There is the solo “Noah,” which follows the opener with a prettiness that avoids slipping into an all-surface insubstantiality. There is the decidedly more energetic and angular “Jumping into the Flow,” which is likely to please fans of Marilyn Crispell (it offers a solid cloud of rumble in the back half).
Joo carries that intensity into the trio tangle “Indefatigable,” but then the solo “Ellie the Paw” swings back to an elevated gorgeousness that reinforces her compositional bedrock. Also solo, “Authentic Taste” is spikier as Joo roves up and down the keyboard with authority. Another solo track, “Until the End,” emits an almost neoclassical vibe, and then the trio returns for “Meandering,” which features a subtle cerebral groove that stands as the album’s highlight in terms of composition.
Everybody gets off instrumentally in “Meandering,” and that’s a treat. The solo “Soft Collapse” definitely has some Jarrett in its progressions, and closer “Still Speaking” combines a sturdy rhythmic core, cymbals splashing and tapping, and keys winding, climbing, darting, circling, and cascading with assurance. It’s also lean as it is lithe. Altogether, Just Gravity is a knockout. It’s going to be sweet soaking this one up over the span of months and preparing for what Joo has next in store.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
