New York-based pianist Colin Heshmat makes an adventurous debut with his upcoming release, “Elastic Groove”. Rather than using flash for its own sake, Heshmat gathers a talented quartet to build a musical concept using feel, structure, and a quietly confident sense of group interplay.
The album sits comfortably in the modern mainstream jazz lane: post-bop in vocabulary, straight-ahead in spirit, but fresh enough to avoid sounding derivative. Heshmat clearly understands the value of the quartet as a living unit, and builds a conversation between piano, trumpet, bass, and drums, with each voice helping shape the emotional and rhythmic direction of the music.
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The opener, “Sea Breeze,” sets the tone with a relaxed, medium-tempo ease. Ryo Sasaki’s trumpet tone gives the tune a mellow glow, and Heshmat’s piano lines move with patience. It is a smart first impression: melodic, warm, and polished, but still alert. The bluesier “Corner Spot” brings an edge to the record, with Heshmat describing it as a tribute to New York deli culture.
The title track, “Elastic Groove,” is the album’s clearest statement of intent. Written as an energetic jazz waltz and dedicated to Heshmat’s wife Olivia, it captures the album’s central idea: rhythm that bends without breaking. Among the originals, “Morning in Midtown” is a standout. Its 5/4 meter could easily become a technical gimmick, but the tune keeps a quietly joyful character.
The standards are handled with respect but not over-caution. “Just Friends” keeps the familiar melody intact while modernizing the feel, and “Blue Bossa” gives Heshmat room to explore fresh trio ideas inside a well-known form. Closing with Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island” is a crowd-pleasing choice, but the quartet earns it. Sasaki, Heshmat, and Takagi each get space to speak, and the performance ends the album on a spirited, open-handed note rather than a self-serious one.
What stands out most about Elastic Groove is its balance. Heshmat’s influences are audible, but his writing carries that identity of a pianist thinking carefully about how tunes live inside a band. As a debut studio recording, Elastic Groove is a strong arrival. It presents Colin as a performer, composer, and bandleader who understands that jazz is most alive when the musicians are listening as hard as they are playing.