Born in Barcelona, Spain and based in New York City since 2012, pianist, composer, and improvisor Eva Novoa has recorded as a leader in a variety of configurations, and with particular emphasis on the trio. On May 16, 577 Records is releasing the second volume of her stimulating interactions with bassist Masatoshi Kamaguchi and drummer Gerald Cleaver. The three-way dialogue is enriching throughout as Novoa plays acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes, bangs a Chinese gong, and even whistles a bit. Like the previous installment, Novoa / Kamaguchi / Cleaver Trio, Vol. 2 is out on vinyl (shipping around June 9), compact disc, and digital. Copies of Vol. 1 are also still available in all formats.
The majority of Eva Novoa’s prior work has been issued by the Fresh Sound New Talent label, including her first record leading a trio, an eponymous recording featuring Masa Kamaguchi on bass and Marc Lohr on drums. Two years later came a quartet album, also eponymous, followed by two more by her Ditmas Quartet, one a studio set released in 2016 (Butterflies and Zebras) and the other a live date that came out in ’18 (Live at IBeam). Satellite Quartet was issued in 2020.
In this decade, Novoa’s focus has shifted back to the trio, at least on recordings, all on 577 Records, with the first documentation of this triumvirate with Kamaguchi and Cleaver emerging in 2023. In March of 2024 came Novoa / Gress / Gray Trio, Volume 1 with Drew Gress on bass and modular synth and Devin Gray on drums, followed by Novoa / Carter / Mela Trio, Vol. 1 with Daniel Carter on an array of horns and Francisco Mela on drums and vocals.
Novoa can conjure up some clamor on the keys with an underlying sense of control, but she gets there gradually on Vol. 1, as the conversations value space and an atmosphere of calm that’s appreciated in our current environment. With “Modus Vivendi,” Vol. 2 offers an immediate contrast with an angular variation on a compositional structure that can be traced back to the classic piano trio model.
Vol. 2 also gets into Fender Rhodes mode much earlier in the sequence, as the second track, “Triangles for G,” the longest on the album, is a platform for Novoa on the electric keyboard. Her approach is distinctive, neither reliant on fusion’s Fender precedent nor deliberately reacting against it. She, in fact, plays around with a bit of a retro sci-fi feel, and when Novoa lays out, Kamaguchi and Cleaver work up a considerable head of steam.
At less than half the duration, “Popcorn in Your Brain” starts out contemplative but accelerates wildly by the conclusion. “From Left to Right” finds Novoa doubling on Fender and piano to a highly rewarding result, and “Gonga 2” serves up some exquisite clang, but again with space and calm as guiding principles, and with Kamaguchi’s plucking huge in the scheme.
Kamaguchi is even more prominent in the aptly titled bass showcase “Mucho Masa,” with the track also featuring some of Novoa’s prettiest and most lyrical playing on the album. Much of “Palomitas de Maiz” rattles, scrapes, plinks and plonks with a Euro avant-garde feel, as Novoa whistles like she’s strolling down the deserted halls of academe. She then bursts up and out with a powerful solo stretch that gives way to an explosive bass-drums passage kissed with a few grace notes from Novoa and then silence.
A swing back to quartets might be on deck for Novoa, or possibly paring it down to a duo or expanding to five, six or seven pieces. It’s clear she’s versatile. Of course, there will most assuredly be second volumes of her recordings with Gress and Gray and Carter and Mela on the horizon. A lot to look forward to, and as Novoa / Kamaguchi / Cleaver Trio, Vol. 2 releases this week, an exceptional album to soak up right now.
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