The mastery of an instrument or a musical language doesn’t necessarily mean
that a musician must be frivolous in performance with displays of their masterful
technique or engagement in superfluous overplaying. Sometimes it is the
restraint that shows the maturity and taste of a performer. Rufus Reid and Sullivan
Fortner are musicians who have the easy ability to astonish but show their class in
their control.
Of course, Reid has been acknowledged as one of the best bassists in jazz for
decades, leaving him nothing more to prove. The heralded young pianist, Sullivan
Fortner, has a maturity beyond his years and the pairing of the two allows for
music making of the highest caliber. Their duo recording, It’s The Nights I Like,
shows just what kind of magic can made without resorting to histrionics and letting
the music shine.
Reid has long been making music with ensembles of all sizes, not limited to small
groups but even for jazz orchestras that he composes for. His artistry has never
been limited by ensemble and when he was invited to record a vynil album for Elan
Mehler and Newvelle Records in 2019, Reid decided to partner with Sullivan with
whom he had been introduced a couple years before after the pianist had won the
2015 American Jazz Pianists Competition. The music the duo prepared is a mixture of
Reid’s originals and standards or canonical pieces from jazz’s greatest composers, including
Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Charlie Parker.