songs from the time of great questioning is a unified improvisational suite in five tracks that moves the listener through the 20th century with echoes of Bartok, Ives, Stravinisky, Boulez, and Cage all the while paying homage to the extended improvisational paths long since paved by CT, Jarrett, and Futterman.  This is not to say though that this recording is simply a retro tribute.  Far from it.  goodheart paves a super highway here through a virgin aural landscape that flows through the quietest of meadows and the loudest of ruins in a vehicle not yet produced...all the while taking the listener on a gentle journey that questions everything we thought we knew about the foundations of modern composition.

The CD opens with Sparks From An Ancient Sea, that slowly, if not deliberately, develops a wonderfully simple staccato phrase into a lush full torrent of phrasing constructs that are returned to throughout.  The   second track, Structure for Piano No. 2, probably owes the most to the modern classicalist, but even here, goodheart goes his own way.  Again, beginning with a rather simple quiet melodic phrase, he explores the very soul of the melody using every register on the piano, all the while being very careful to take the listener along every step of the way.  The third track, Can One Letter 'Om'? (for Ornette Coleman), states an interesting rhetorical musical question, taken possibly from "om" one akshara, made from the five initials described in Dravya-sangrah.   None-the-less, the question is clearly answered in this track, a wonderful stylistic tribute to Coleman that of all the tracks comes closest to our precepts of blues-based modern jazz.   The fourth track, Variations On A Theme by Alvin Curran, is a beautifully developed contrapuntal variation that brings goodheart back to his contemporary classical roots with a tribute to the co-founder of the radical collective Musica Elettronica Viva, unfortunately a group better known for inciting musical uprisings than its compositions.  The CD closes with, Shaker Melody, reminiscent of Ives' treatments of popular tunes.  From deep within the piano, goodheart brings out a melody that no Shaker would recognize but one that the discerning listener will readily understand to be the singular beacon on this recording to a "time of great questioning."

Buy this CD for deep listening.  Buy this CD for the musical questions it asks.  Buy this CD because a performance and compositions of this strength come along very rarely.  But most of all, buy this CD to strike a blow against mediocrity in thought and homogenization in art.

--- The Drimala Crew

Artists:
Matthew Goodheart, piano

Tracks:
1.  Sparks From The Ancient Sea                          6:21
2.  Structure for Piano No. 2                                 12:08
3.  Can One Letter 'Om'? (for Ornette Coleman)     7:27
4.  Variations On A Theme by Alvin Curran           17:46
5.  Shaker Melody                                                8:36
All compositions by Matthew Goodheart
Total Time 52:14

Goodheart's other releases include a new duo recording with Dominic Duval on Cadence Jazz Records, a new duo with Leo Smith on Cadence, the First and Last CD on Eremite with Glen Spearman, a quartet disc on Nine Winds with Spearman, Lisle Ellis, and Donald Robinson, as well as the Spearman/Eneidi large ensemble disc on Music & Arts.