The Great American Songbook is a comfort zone for jazz performers and audiences alike. These are tunes we know by heart, familiar melodies that tug at nostalgia while providing a canvas for improvisation. For veteran pianist Billy Lester, however, standards are anything but safe territory.
Recorded in collaboration with bassist Marcello Testa and drummer Nicola Stranieri, the Billy Lester trio’s latest album, “High Standards,” radically reinvents nine classic jazz standards. Lester not only strips these songs down to their bones, but rebuilds them into something daring, unpredictable, and intensely personal.
The setlist reads like a classic jam session. Opening with “There Will Never Be Another You,” the album ventures into upbeat territory, with Lester dancing through complex solos. The original melody is not presented directly, with the theme being explored in fragmented phrases instead.
“What Is This Thing Called Love?” contrasts nicely with the other early entries, bringing a noir vibe to the album. Meanwhile, “Out of Nowhere” stands out as a single that thrives on dissonance. For the unprepared ear, this can be disorienting, but that’s precisely the point: Lester isn’t decorating standards, he’s deconstructing them.
The trio proves to be an inspired match. Testa and Stranieri don’t just accompany; they listen and create space for Lester’s direction. Their understated propulsion on the virtuosic I’ll Remember April turns the tune into a tightrope act, with the pianist bending time and harmony in ways that keep the listener perpetually on edge.
High Standards highlights the boldness and conversational interplay of the Billy Lester trio. Lester delivers a radical reclamation of the Songbook as a living, malleable art form, and his vision may just fly over the head of a casual listener. But for those willing to lean in, it is an absorbing listen.