Like Minds – The Alan Broadbent Trio
Alan Broadbent is one of New Zealand’s favorite musical sons and perhaps the most well-known and multi-talented of them all.
On his new album Like Minds, Broadbent takes a seat on the piano bench for his third Savant recording with his trio featuring the great bassist Harvie S and the prominent drumming of Billy Mintz.
Together these men play with notable clarity and poise, and their performances – even those of familiar standards – are wonderfully tuneful, sometimes whimsical and often moving, with the overall effect always coming across as coolly engaging and totally spontaneous.
“I’m averse to playing what I jokingly call ‘big band trio arrangements,’ where everybody plays the rhythmic hits,” Broadbent says. “I’ll get a big band if I want to do that. For me, for the trio, I want it to change every time.”
Spontaneous and off-the-cuff the album’s nine tracks may be, but the closer you listen, these three superb musicians are of like minds indeed.
…host of the Just Jazz radio show, writer, and occasional voice over artist.
