(Reprinted from the June 2023 issue of Downbeat magazine)
Photo: Artist website
When Arizona native Rachel Eckroth spoke with Downbeat this past March, she was in Denmark, wrapping up a JazzDanmark-sponsored residency. The pianist/singer was also finalizing Hues, a new EP with guitarist Anna Roemer and songwriter Hannah Schnieder, two Danish musicians with eclectic careers that mirror Eckroth’s own. In between these gigs and an upcoming European tour in May to promote her Grammy-nominated album The Garden (Rainy Day Records), a foray into synthesized modern jazz, Eckroth launched another, wholly different release: One, via her own Blackbird Sessions label. This arresting collection of solo pieces for acoustic piano—entirely improvised—reveals the powerful musical mind that feeds all of her ensemble projects.
Eckroth hasn’t received as much attention for her abilities as a jazz improviser as for her other musical ventures, however—she’s been widely acclaimed for her highly visible role as keyboardist for The Meredith Vieira Show and her side work for indie pop-rock stars like St. Vincent, Rufus Wainright, and KT Tunstall. She’s also carved a niche for herself in the alternative singer/songwriter universe, with multiple albums as a leader and even more as a co-creator. The multi-faceted player even has a signature electric piano by Vintage Vibe, a prominent manufacturer of electronic keyboards.
“I like doing these other kinds of gigs—they feed my need to try all the things and my curiosity about other kinds of music,” Eckroth explained. “I'm also a gearhead, too, so I love getting into the pedals and creating my own sounds.”
Despite the demands of such a pressing career, Eckroth has always found opportunities to explore her jazz predilections: She often collaborated with celebrated players like bassist (and husband) Tim Lefebvre, trumpeter Chris Botti, saxophonist Donny McCaslin, and guitarist Nir Felder. But not as the spotlight artist.
“I've been playing piano since I was six,” Eckroth said. “And in my adult career—being a sideman mostly—I really haven't done a lot of things where I'm featured on piano. Weirdly, because it's my first instrument, and it's my best instrument. And I have a master's degree from Rutgers, where I studied with [jazz pianist] Stanley Cowell. So, it’s a big part of me, but I just haven't showcased it. And, in a way, I might call myself a composer over everything—over singing, over playing. Being able to compose on the spot—it’s what I love.”
Eckroth’s affinity for spontaneous composition informs each moment of the new album, from the opener, “Don’t Go,” with its moody interiority, to “Three Wheels,” a study in fleeting dissonance and satisfying catharsis, to the closing track, “Light Sleeper,” a lullaby that flirts with the harmonic complexity of modern jazz. These short works, representative of the 10 originals in the collection, are oriented toward beauty rather than technical finesse—only because, in Eckroth’s case, such finesse is a given, merely the device that gives her creative visions life.
This focus on artistry is most apparent on Eckroth’s impromptu originals, with their jazz precedents and contemporary bent. But she brings this same focus to her improvisational understanding of two standards— “Prelude to a Kiss,” a riveting extrapolation of Duke Ellington’s luscious ballad, and “Neverend,” a compelling descent into the heart of this Joshua Redman composition.
“When I do these piano improvisations, I'm thinking melodically simple things, but also rhythmically—of, maybe, off kinds of things,” she said. “Sometimes there are little rhythmic parts that just come out of nowhere.”
On this record, these rhythmic interjections speak to Eckroth’s jazz inclination, even as her compositional stance leans more towards a fresh, modern impressionism. But her approach to these improvisations wasn’t about squeezing as many idioms as possible into a known musical mold.
“When I sit down at the piano, it's about where my fingers fall and how it feels texturally and emotionally,” Eckroth said. “I think in pictures and shapes more than playing changes or something like that. So while improvising for solo piano, a lot of it will be just one sound, or some simple chord changes or no chord changes. I'm not necessarily going through jazz changes and trying to build a solo on a form.”
This process stands in contrast with her necessarily more structured approach to songwriter material and previous jazz projects—even Common Mutations (Rainy Days), a fully improvised album with The Garden’s small ensemble, a 2022 release, benefits from careful crafting, and in group settings like these, Eckroth necessarily and readily merges with the other players. But on One, you can hear Eckroth’s thoughts as they happen, exposed and unadulterated, in real time. It’s the rare musician who can withstand such scrutiny, especially across genres.
“I don’t think I’ve [ever] done a record that is the same as the last one,” Eckroth offered. “Personally, I'm looking for the freedom in the music. When I make songs and records and sounds, I want everything to feel good inside—it has to be pretty or happy or something. But even if it's a dark sound, I want it to hit me in a way that feels like love. I'm not trying to get too brainy—there must have been a point where I decided that music, for me, is just going to be emotional.”
This summer, after some time spent touring with St. Vincent and bassist Mike Gordon, from the progressive rock band Phish, Eckroth again recalibrates toward jazz. She’ll be teaching at the Brubeck Jazz Summit in Lake Tahoe before heading to Switzerland to instruct at the Langnau Jazz Nights Festival. Then she’ll drop her second jazz album this year—Humanoid, recorded live at Sam First in Los Angeles and released via the club’s eponymous label.
The record unveils a new sound, Eckroth says, with a crew of musicians who seem to share her penchant for pushing boundaries (guitarist Andrew Renfroe, drummer Tina Raymond, and bassist Billy Mohler).
“It’s probably the jazziest thing I’ve done in a long time,” she said of the upbeat recording. “And some of my best piano playing.”