Spike Wilner Trio Contrafactus

The Childen & The Warlock featuring George Garzone

Cellar Music

While the title might be a bit daunting, there are three important elements that drew me to this recording: Spike Wilner’s piano playing, the consistent quality of Cellar Music’s offerings, and, mostly, as Wilner says in the liners, the great and unsung saxophonist George Garzone, as fine a Coltrane devotee as any on the instrument. Garzone is not just a guest playing on select tracks. He plays throughout the album supported by Trio Contrafactus, which also features bassist Paul Gill and drummer Anthony Pinciotti. In fact, as we translate the album title, Garzone is dubbed by Wilner as the warlock, guiding the children, in other words the trio, through these compositions. Said another way, Garzone is a mammoth, beast-like presence throughout. Wilner, also the erstwhile owner of Small’s, is a modest type, stating this in an interview with Morgan Enos published in UK Jazz News -”In my mind, I’ve always just been a jazz musician. People give me a lot of credit for running Smalls, but it’s just a job, in a lot of ways. I’m still just practicing and trying to strive for personal perfection.”  Like Wilner’s 2024 Contrafactus album, this was also recorded at GB’s Juke Joint in Long Island City. Studio owner Glen Forrest records the SmallsLIVE series, many of which we have covered on these pages.

 The album also is a two-way tribute, one intentional as directed to Wilner’s late mentor, pianist and composer Harry Whitaker. The other serves as a posthumous tribute to drummer Anthony Pinciotti, who passed away suddenly following the session. Whitaker was known for his deeply expressive playing and unwavering commitment to improvisation in its purest form. As Wilner describes, Whitaker played “only in the moment,” a philosophy that became the foundation of this album’s concept. “Prepare nothing but what you have already brought with you, then play,” Wilner says, echoing his mentor’s ethos. Garzone, a fearless improviser, became an apropos choice to lead the trio through compositions by Whitaker, Wilner, Garzone, most appropriately Coltrane, and Fred Lacy. The quartet strikes an impressive balance between the deeply personal and wildly adventurous in the spirit of Whitaker.

Taking the lead with the first composition, the first round of improvisation is Garzone with the aptly titles “Hey, Open Up!,” a slice of hard swinging bop with all going full tilt. Garzone and Wilner exchange vigorous lines, passing to Gill and Pinciotti  who are eager to enter the fray. The centerpiece is Whitaker’s title track, a lengthy excursion in bluesy modal jazz with Wilner, and especially the aggressive Garzone weaving their way through a basically simple chord structure. “Benediction” is one of two piano-saxophone duets, the other being the closer “Re-Solution.” These are improvised collaborations in the spirit of Whitaker’s band which was named Moment to Moment.

Garzone and the trio are squarely in their comfort zone rendering Coltrane’s “Miles’ Mode” which first appeared on the icon’s 1962 Impulse! Coltrane. “Theme for Ernie,” by Fred Lacy is also a relatively well-known Coltrane piece, dating to his early introductions of modal jazz on his 1958 Soultrane (Prestige). Lacy wrote the tune for  in memory of Ernie Henry, a largely forgotten alto sax player. The ballad treatment in the first section exemplifies Garzone’s full, robust tone and Wilner’s masterful comping while the quartet breaks into light swinging in the second half, propelled by Wilner’s glistening muscular solo which inspires Garzone on his re-entry. Pinciotti deftly steers the combo back to sublime balladry as they take it out. Yet another standout track is the free jazz entry, “Moment to Moment,” that  pays homage to the name of Whitaker’s band as Garzone and Contrafactus reach deep into exploratory zones and conventions, a unit totally locked into exquisite spiritual jazz.

Unfortunately, Pinciotti’s sudden passing derailed the touring plans for Wilner’s trio with Garzone so we’ll have to see if they find an avenue to do that.

As much as I’m familiar with Wilner and Garzone, this album comes as a pleasant surprise, a clear favorite in this first half of 2025 as it represents Whitaker’s mantra, previously stated – “Prepare nothing but what you have already brought with you, then play.”  In other words, in the moment jazz at its finest.

– Jim Hynes