 |  | CDNOW review of Sigame
| Pianist-composer D.D. Jackson continues to craft diversely sourced, delightfully inventive music as he returns to his longtime Canadian label Justin Time for this outstanding trio set where he's backed by bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Dafnis Prieto (with guests Freddie Bryant on guitar and Christian Howes on violin).
Opening track "The Welcoming," a soulful, gospelized melody with a kinetic swing, frames Jackson's improvisations, which are always cannily constructed, with a creative edge of unpredictability. On "Cubano-Funk," an avant-garde opening of scrambled piano lines and random rhythm bears down into a driving beat, with Jackson's dynamic left hand pushing along a piston-like figure. "Le Shuffle," a '60s-styled soul-funk groove, is punctuated with a gorgeous seamless statement against a percolating rhythm section, Bryant's whanging guitar chords, and Jackson's tonal blizzards.
Some of Jackson's classical training seems at play on "For Desdemona," a fragile, reserved beauty that features his trinkling, virtuoso runs against its poignant changes, as well as on the glorious "Summer," with its warm, softly swelling changes borne aloft by Howes' string overdubs. And Jackson's neoclassical solo-piano fantasia "Prologue" ends the album on a solemn note. Of course, concluding an album with a track called "Prologue" might seem to be an inversion of sorts. Or it could also be seen as a suggestion that D.D. Jackson sees renewal in his already astonishing career. | | Drew Wheeler, CDNOW Senior Editor |
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 |  |  | | | | | "D.D. Jackson is, at his best, the most inventive pianist under 50, dashing across the keyboard with preternatural speed yet never losing his classical grace and precision or his left-hand bluesy roots...."
-- - Fred Kaplan, The Absolute Sound
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| | Suite for New York:
An impressive montage of controlled chaos, exciting solo work and promise of things to come: a febrile fusion of futuristic jazz, contemporary classical, streetwise funk and Afro-Cuban sensuality.
-- - Jazz Times Magazine
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| | Quebecite:
"The score is a powerful, identifiably Jacksonesque effort full of energy, rhythm, and flourish..."
-- - Mark Miller, the Globe and Mail
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| | Sigame:
"Swinging, immediate and risk-taking, Sigame is everything a great jazz album should be."
-- - Pulse magazine
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| | "They should have called it "Stand Back, Here Comes D.D. Jackson." This passionate young Canadian pianist sounds like a state-of-the-art player piano exceeding the limits of human performance. "......So Far" is clearly a contender for jazz record of the year. Don't miss it."
-- Steve Guttenberg, Audio magazine
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