'Red...Black...' by Takashi Kudo is a wonderfully exciting, masterfully executed piano trio album. Their style is straight-ahead jazz, with a sound very reminiscent of the Keith Jarrett Trio recordings, but in some ways even more daring. As haunting as it is romantic, as dramatic as it is beautiful, this music is full of twists and turns.
Pianist Kudo is joined by Larry Grenadier on bass and Scott Goulding on drums and they are all marvelous musicians. I don't know how long they have played together, but it sounds like years, so profound is the intimacy of their communication.
There are 12 tracks on the album, including an interlude and a postlude. Seven tracks are covers and the remaining five are originals, three written by Kudo and one written by the label's CEO, Jane Wang.
The CD opens with an amazing arrangement of the Eddie Harris song "Freedom Jazz Dance", with the band switching from straight-time to double-time every few measures. This track shows that not only is the band not afraid to push the envelope, they have no problem delivering on the promise. The next song is an Ennio Morricone tune, "Cinema Paradiso (Love Theme)," which fully lives up to its name. They continue with crisp, buoyant versions of "Angel Eyes" and "Autumn Leaves" and one of the most poignant renditions of "Moon River" that I've ever heard.
The original compositions presented here are just as fulfilling. CEO Wang contributes "The Shower (After Steve Lacy)," a joyous tune with a quirky, angular melody. One of the ballads written by Kudo, "Snow... and then...," is full of such longing and beauty it seems destined to find itself as part of a movie soundtrack some day.
It was very difficult to find fault with anything on this album. However, there were moments that I felt would have benefited from having a bit more bass and drums in the mix, moments in which the producer (Kudo) seemed to overemphasize the piano. But that is a very minor complaint. Overall, this is a rich, complex recording and one of the best piano trio CDs I've heard in quite a while.

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