Pianist and composer Kevin Fort follows his extraordinary debut, Red Gold (CD Baby, 2014), with another tip of the hat to jazz standards and the modern tradition; Perspectives is a musical package nicely filled with new arrangements of six classics and four new originals, performed by a standard piano trio. For more than twenty years an in-demand player in Chicago’s talent-rich jazz scene, Fort is also an educator, currently lecturing at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music.
As with his previous recording, the pianist joins forces with Chicago drummer Jon Deitemyer known as one of the most versatile voices in modern jazz drumming, and, this time, features educator and bandleader double bassist Joe Pilicastro to form one of the finest working piano trios in the business.
Perspectives is pianist Kevin Fort’s way of paying homage to the bebop sound and keeping the straight-ahead tradition alive and well. Of course, it is quite possible that Fort’s perspective on the music of jazz is already commonly shared by many musicians and audiences alike. The pianist’s affinity for the classics and his impeccable writing, evidenced by the quality of his originals, seem to be a recipe for success, now having produced two appealing musical statements in his discography.
