The New Jersey Star Ledger

Young pianist, old school -- Perry esteems piano stylists of the bebop era
Friday, September 30, 2005
BY ZAN STEWART
Star-Ledger Staff

Pianist Sacha Perry is old school. The jazz pianists he reveres, and whom his style is built on, are those of the bebop era: Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, primarily, but also Al Haig, Elmo Hope and the all-but-unknown Frank Hewitt. Top modernists like McCoy Tyner have had little, if any, effect on him.

Asked about his style, Perry said he likes the general appellation "jazz pianist."

"I say that very seriously, as far as the feeling that I hope is evoked," said Perry, 35, who plays with a deep touch and melody-rich fluidity. "There are not too many young 'jazz pianists,' not in the sense of that great age of it (with Monk, Powell, etc.)."

Perry works mostly as a sideman, appearing Saturdays at Smalls in Greenwich Village with Ned Goold's Quartet, and early mornings there Sunday and Monday with Zaid Nasser and Duane Clemons, respectively.

The pianist aims for -- and pretty much succeeds at delivering -- the "type of thing that Monk and Bud can elicit, the stuff that has everything," he said. "It swings, it's beautiful, it appeals to the emotions. It's very intelligent music. It's music that speaks, that dances."

Perry, a Brooklyn native who lives in Harlem, demonstrates his considerable allure on his debut CD, "Eretik" (Smalls Records), released earlier this year, and in live performances at Smalls and elsewhere. He gets plenty of room in his appearances with Rutherford-based tenorman Goold, a longtime member of Harry Connick Jr.'s orchestra and a bebop-based hornman and composer who stretches his music.

"The pieces Ned writes are challenging, but they're fun," said Perry. "There's never not a groove, and once you're in, he's easy to follow, to comp for."

Perry's view of "comping," or accompaniment, is to "swing behind the cat, give the soloist what he needs while doing things that satisfy me."

When he gets to solo, then Perry gets to be, he said, "Me."

The pianist called alto saxophonist Nasser "Pretty deep. We're pretty much in accord on how we look at music." Of Clemons, Perry said, "He's a real jazz trumpet player."

Perry is also a member of Across 7 Street, with saxophonist Chris Byars and trombonist John Mosca, and Byars' Octet. As to leading, he said, "A Sacha Perry trio? Never has been one, at least not long-running, that hasn't happened yet. I haven't been concentrating on it."

A pianist since he was 5 or 6, Perry studied classical music at Mannes Prep School in Manhattan from ages 11 to 16. Jazz has been around him all his life -- his father had recordings by Monk, Eric Dolphy and others -- but it really grabbed hold at age 15 when he was visiting an uncle in Bethesda, Md., and heard a record of Monk's tune, "Work."

"I was overwhelmed, listened to it over and over," he said. "That's when I said I have to do something about (playing jazz)."

He mostly schooled himself, watching people like Frank Hewitt, listening, and by sitting in with elders such as altoist Clarence "C" Sharpe. Perry also studied with Barry Harris. Little by little, he worked his way into the New York jazz scene.

While he acknowledged that being a jazz pianist "is always a struggle," Perry also said that he feels he's getting across, that some people see what he's all about.

"If you're going to give something to the world, you hope it's something they can take pleasure in," he said.