IT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO

Duo performance with Stephen Riley (tenor saxophone) March 3, 2018

Composition by Ellington/Strayhorn

Isfahan

Like many of his favorite things, there is much more to Chris Pattishall than meets the eye, and it gets stranger the deeper you dig. Most know him as a pianist with a “forthright relationship to the jazz tradition” (New York Times) and a hard-earned endorsement from the music’s traditional establishment—Wynton Marsalis once shortlisted Pattishall among his favorite young improvisers, and he’s also worked with Jimmy Heath, Jon Hendricks, and Wycliffe Gordon.

But that’s just upon first glance. With his debut album Zodiac—a phantasmagorical interpretation of Mary Lou Williams’ Zodiac Suite—Pattishall unveils himself as an erudite surrealist, following in the footsteps of his wide-reaching influences: Roberto Bolaño, Luis Buñuel, Madlib, and Thelonious Monk. He shares their dedication to the quietly inexplicable, and continues their pursuit of the kinds of otherworldly resonances that defy the way we rationalize experience. His obsession with history is borne of a crate-digger’s mentality, not stuffy conservatism: he’s fascinated with how bizarre and defiant early jazz actually was within the context of its time.

Though he makes his living moonlighting as a besuited scholar of Earl Hines and Erroll Garner, you’re more likely to find Pattishall in a wolf sweatshirt when he’s off the clock, passing through the Gladstone Gallery to experience the latest from Wangechi Mutu or heading to the Armory to check out Oneohtrix Point Never. With Zodiac, Pattishall takes a step towards unifying his interests. In collaboration with producer Rafiq Bhatia (of Son Lux) and an ensemble of close allies—Jamison Ross (drums), Riley Mulherkar (trumpet), Reuben Fox (saxophone), and Marty Jaffe (bass)—Pattishall renders Williams’ futuristic early jazz compositions with both understated melodicism and Fellini-esque unreality.

IT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO

Chris Pattishall

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