"Five stars…There is nothing comparable to the Marc Copland trio of 2007. What a wonder with such players: homogeneity, listening, participation, and interplay--the whole is more than merely the sum of its parts" --Piano News (Germany)

"At this moment, most assuredly one of the most inventive (trios) there is… the meeting is exceptional, the music miraculous… " --Jazzman (France)

"A beautiful record." --NY Times (USA)

"Look no further for the art of the trio, this is it." --Jazz Magazine (France)

"Perhaps no better current trio….not that Copland is a one-trick pony, but if you want a romantic lushness that is more poetic than rococo, there is no one better."--Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

"Best of 2006" --John Kelman, AllAboutJazz.com (USA)

Modinha is a CD of the year---this year or any other. Classic, modern, timeless, heartfelt, irreverent, enigmatic, intimate." --Jazz e Arredos (Portugal)

"CD of the year, #1 pianist of 2006.." --Tribuna da Imprensa (Brasil)

"Five Stars"--Jazz Zeitung (Germany)

"A producer’s dream; from the quality of playing, to the compositions, to the sound of the recording, this CD is a beauty."--JazzRadio247.com (USA)

"Jazz the way it was meant to be--improvised. makes one realize how ordinary, how formulaic, so much of the rest of today's music has become….these guys don't need a leader." --Boston Globe (USA)

"A classic...confirms Copland as one of the absolute current leaders in contemporary jazz trio…A quiet giant, an exuberant imagination, his playing has a character all its own…he seems to hold the keys to the least revealed secrets of contemporary jazz" --www.artistsandbands.org (Italy)

"At present, Marc Copland is a name of the first rank in jazz." --Codigojazz.com (Argentina)

An evening of jazz the way it was meant to be -- improvised

By Steve Greenlee/February 17, 2007

The spontaneous creation of music -- jazz, real jazz -- can be magical. Often what we hear in the jazz clubs is a tightly scheduled series of solos -- first the sax, then the piano, then the bass, then the drums -- bookended by the heads of standards that the band plays in order as prescribed by a set list. Yeah, there's jazz in there, sure, but you can hardly call that spontaneity.

Thursday night at the Regattabar was one of those transcendent evenings that can make one realize how ordinary, how formulaic, so much of the rest of today's music has become. Pianist Marc Copland , bassist Gary Peacock , and drummer Bill Stewart created art out of nothing. They arrived without a set list, and some of the tunes weren't even songs; they were sketches composed on the spot through the art of improvisation. It wasn't clear, either, who was leading the group -- the album the trio recently released is under Copland's name, and the concert gave Peacock (the best known of the three) top billing, but it seemed more likely that these guys don't need a leader. No tunes were announced. There was no chatter with the audience. Songs often began with Copland shrugging his shoulders toward Peacock, as if to say, "What do you want to play?" Peacock returned an "I don't know" look and would say aloud, "Start something."

They sure did.

Peacock began the concert with a bluesy, facile solo that launched the trio into an exploratory take of Sonny Rollins's "Doxy" that had the musicians thinking and feeling their way through the tune, Stewart driving the train with his propulsive drumming and Copland spiraling further and further from the theme. They followed it with a free, unnamed improvisation that sounded like a light rain turning into thunder -- brushes on cymbals leading to Copland's thick chords and splashing arpeggios. A lovely ballad called "At Night" that centered on a gentle, eight-note figure was pretty without being precious, and the musicians seemed to surprise themselves by abandoning the softness midway through and taking up a funky groove for maybe 32 bars. They ended the first set with a churning, volatile version of "Stella by Starlight." After the set Copland told me he had never played the song in that particular key before. Yes, that's real jazz for you.

By Budd Kopman, March 29, 2008

Copland is a masterfully subtle player whose strengths lie in understatement, harmonic control and coloration, melodic implication and an almost sensuous keyboard touch rather than in pyrotechnics. All of these seemingly self-effacing musical qualities are balanced, however, by an continuously incisive and quick mind combined with a deep and strong will. Self-taught, Copland's piano playing shows that he has a direct mental connection the music, the physical act of playing the instrument a mere detail. That he is forever smiling completes the telling, endearing picture.

Because Copland is so inventive, standards are actually welcome, as the listener becomes engrossed in how a familiar tune is bent, but never broken, particularly harmonically. Peacock was a full partner, leading as often as following, and taking solos that grew organically out of what had preceded. He is indeed a very physical player, playing in a vertical pattern as his fingers fly up and down, rather than across, the fingerboard. Able to play freely, but then drop into a strong rhythmic role, Peacock is the perfect foil for any pianist who can match the bassist's musical reflexes and imagination.

Each piece became a musical adventure, an extended fantasy, with a dramatic arc that was built expertly by the trio. Copland practically paints with the piano, the sheer lushness of his physical sound, when mixed with his harmonies and their piquant dissonances, washing over the audience. For his part, Peacock took the music to many unexpected places, and there were many knowing smiles during and after each tune.