Carole Nelson Trio – Night Vision

I have met an Irish guy whose name is Dominic Reilly. He is a real jazz warrior; a jazz promoter from Dublin. He has a unique musical taste and he offers me some new music to listen to. So luckily for me, whatever he recommends me it’s perfectly fit to my musical taste and provoke me to dive deep into that music. Lately he has mentioned me about Ireland-based English pianist Carole Nelson and her band Carole Nelson Trio.

Formed in 2017 with a debut One Day in Winter, a lyrical journey through one winter’s day from dawn to moonrise in Carole’s Carlow home. Arboreal in February 2020 was their second recording. Dominic has sent me her recording just to give a listen. Night Vision released on 10th June 2022 via Blackstairs Records. Carole Nelson on piano, voice and soprano saxophone, Cormac O’Brien on bass and Dominic Mullan on drums. All three contributed to write 10 original tracks. Lovely cover image by Barbara Freeman

Carole Nelson is multi instrumentalist and arranger, teacher, performer songwriter and a musician with a variety of interests such as zen meditation, ecology and she is tai chi lover, social justice movement activator, LGBTQ community member. These all abilities and interests make her musical perspective expand. Proof is “Night Vision” itself.

Firstly I need to say that I have been addicted to this recording and listen to that again and again for trying to fully understand the message deep inside it. That doesn’t mean that my brain has blown away by virtuosic playing and exploding music ceromonies but top notch musicianship and wisdom keeping deep inside of it. Listening to a recording more than three times is a rare thing for me because I have been listening to countless album a day to pick the one I would like to review. Therefore the rest of them on my shelf needs to wait. This hypnotic gem has completely discovered by all my senses. 

Nelson has an omnivorous approach to music, interpolating traditional European melodies and hymns while incorporating different textures and sounds on this recording. Like to ability of night visioning, the trio has the same ability to reach the inner forces and fragile senses of the listener. As far as I know they have spent an hour for improvising and all the magic suddenly happened. A small amount of free improvisation parts makes the recording not only for an average music listening habit but only for the deep searcher. Sound by Ivan Jackman at Hellfire Studio Dublin has a great help them to carry their message in terms of clarity. My only only negative critic is about the introduction piece named Chrysalis and then after that piece the intro part of Dreaming of a Snake that ended up with string part of the bass. The slow tempo is not so suitable as a showcase of this intense album in my humble opinion. That might be used as a breathing time in the middle of the album. But I fully respect the artists choice.

Narrative approach to the musical stories feed by Nelson which of elegant agility while Mullan reserved presence except sudden touches to the crashes. Night Vision. As a first time listener, I loved that trio approaches of the jazz today as a small group. And I would most probably follow their upcoming recordings and their live performances if I would find a chance to see them in a small club or a venue.

You can buy Night Vision here