Album Review: Follow Up from Eric Lilley

Album:  Follow Up
Artist:  Eric Lilley
Label:  Goat Music
Website:  https://ericlilley.com

From Latin salsas to funky grooves, slinky bop-infused struts and free-style ruminations, pianist Eric Lilley travels through a gamut of jazz-inspired patinas on his latest release Follow Up.  Supported by Mark Diamond on bass and Dru Heller on drums, the trio create a lively banter that demands listeners to simply sit back and let the music fill in the empty spaces of their lives.

 

The traipsing stride of Lilley's keys glinting along "The Weston Walk" are layered by the taut pulse of Mark Diamond's bass and the frolicking drumming of Dru Heller.  The trio form a plush thickness across the melodic progressions that continues to take centerstage through the prancing ripples of the bass clinging to the frenzied statements made by the keys in "The Hollow Way," delivering a hardcore bop-bent in the trio's spontaneous prattle.

 

Lilley's free-style leanings in his ruminations move languidly along "Annika," producing undulating crests and valleys in the discourse, varying the brightness in the keys.  "Bud Bop" is a different offering, trimmed in Latin accents in the keys bolted by a salsa shimmy navigated by Jose Espino's percussion.  Espino returns on "Leanin'" with his vigorous splashing of salsa flavoring.

Based in Denver, Colorado, Lilley's fusion of funk, salsa, bop, and free-style jazz transmit a lively banter.  His inclination to fill in space along the melodic progressions cause a natural flow of voices to merge and blend into a larger sonorous.

Musicians:
Eric Lilley - piano
Mark Diamond - bass
Dru Heller - drums
Jose Espino - percussion on "Bud Bop"