Experienced sideman Lawrence Fields’ leader debut trio album is lyrical and soulful.
Lawrence Fields – To the Surface (Rhythm ’n’ Flow, 2024)
For more than a decade I have enjoyed pianist Lawrence Field as a sideman in Joe Lovano’s and trumpeter Dave Douglas’ Soundprints, and in trumpeter Cristian Scott’s groups.
The tall Fields, introspectively bent over the keyboard, often captured my attention even in this illustrious company. He built his solos carefully and with detail until they began to grow on you. And when he was featured as a composer as well, the songs had the same quality and brought it out in the other soloists as well.
Encountering this trio album by Field’s the major surprise is not how good and mature it is, but that it is his debut album as a leader. All the qualities I have noticed in him as a sideman is very prominent as a leader as well.
Influences from piano greats
Nine of the ten songs are originals by Fields, and they are all good compositions which serves as vehicles for the trio to explore. “Yasorey” is cool and funky and shows drummer Corey Fonville at his best. On the more lyrical “Vision” it is bassist Yasushi Nakamura who shines with a hypnotic ostinato. The interplay between all three members of the trio is excellent throughout the album.
Fields clearly has his own style of playing but I can still hear lots of echoes from the piano greats. In some of his voicing and chords I hear influences from McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea. Sometimes there are splashes of Kieth Jarrett as well, as when Fields plays the standard “I Fall in Love to Easily,” which Jarrett has recorded as well.
Fields sounds more like his own man on his original compositions, and it is a good thing that there is so many of them on this album. Hopefully, listeners will not have to wait such a long time for a follow-up album as they have for this debut album, because Fields have a good thing going. He sounds both lyrical and soulful and has a lot of interesting musical ideas.
Jazz Desk 