Press
"As with every move in her celebrated career, Lynne Arriale remains both readily identifiable in her different pursuits and impossible to pin down in specific character. Whether given to introspection or taken by extroversion, she remains a force of nature."
All About Jazz
"Lynne Arriale's music lies at the synaptic intersection where brain meets heart, where body meets soul. She is one of jazzdom's most intensely unique voices."
JazzTimes
"She belongs among the poets. Truly distinctive, her improvisations weave a seductive combination of lyricism and muscle…essential listening."
The London Times
"The Lynne Arriale Trio is jazz as high art. If as I always tout, that the piano trio is the true jazz chamber music, then Arriale is Mozart."
All About Jazz
"Lynne Arriale’s brilliant musicianship and bandstand instincts place her among the top jazz pianists of the day."
New York Times
"The poet laureate of her generation"
Jazz Police
"Lynne Arriale is putting the heart back into jazz"
The Sunday Times London
"Stunning piano work. Few recordings touch the soul. Smart, elegant, and muscular, her expert technique never dilutes the music’s emotional impact."
JAZZIZ
PRESS FOR THE LIGHTS ARE ALWAYS ON
"The American Lynne Arriale has been one of the great poets on the piano for decades."
Jazzthing
"An uplifting, original album inspired by these idiotic times, Arriale soldiers on with more drive than almost anybody. Here's the proof a piano trio can change the world, one note at a time. Brilliant listening."
Midwest Record
"With her 16th album, jazz pianist/composer/educator Lynne Arriale has once again underscored exactly why she is considered to be one of the most creative, technically skilled and emotionally facile jazz artists on the globe."
The Whole Note
"On her 16th album, demonstrates that she is clearly one of the best contemporary jazz pianists."
Jazz Journal
"A brilliant composer whose conceptual brilliance never overpowers the accessibility of her compositions."
Monarch Magazine
"It is a very profound recording."
Jazz History Online
"‘Sounds Like America’ reflects hope, optimism and my feeling about what America is, …in our darkest hour is when the American people truly show who we are. This song soundtracks my hope."
Rock&Roll Online
"….Indispensable…The perfection of the compositions and that of the artists who interpret this music, as well as the perfectly chiseled arrangements, make it one of the major albums in the field of jazz.
All the art of this album lies in the imperceptible communication between these three artists. The space between the notes is as much writing as the rhythms on which the notes grow."
Paris Move
4 stars: "To create reflective beauty and occasional moments of introspection in a consistently melodic and powerfully emotional way is a rare gift and this record catches her talent to perfection."
Jazzwise
"This is the piano maestro’s 16th album as a leader and it is one of her strongest artistic statements to date."
Aoide Magazine
"The Lights Are Always On (the sixteenth in the rich discography of the pianist) shows Lynne Arriale again as a sensitive composer and a virtuoso jazz pianist."
Era Jazzu
"We have long wondered if her music is heart music that speaks to the mind or brain music that speaks to the heart. And we still can't decide. It is likely that the internal alchemy that characterizes her is unspeakable. It's a bit like Bill Evans, you see. Her universe is rich enough for us to listen to it without asking questions.
Her musicality, filled with a delicately implemented knowledge, alone deserves an in-depth listening…. pay particular attention to the music of this disc because it holds the keys to a pianistic originality which speaks to us skillfully and harmoniously, in veiled words, with deceptive simplicity and genuine sincerity."
Culture Jazz
“With her expansive harmonic vocabulary, her impressionistic approach to chord voicing, and her controlled but intense emotionalism, it would seem like the most obvious stylistic comparison of pianist and composer Lynne Arriale would be Bill Evans. And yet she really sounds nothing like him.
The Lights Are Always On is one for the ages, a transcendent album that moves, inspires, and thrills."
Monarch
"With her expansive harmonic vocabulary, her impressionistic approach to chord voicing, and her controlled but intense emotionalism, it would seem like the most obvious stylistic comparison for pianist and composer Lynne Arriale would be Bill Evans. And yet she really sounds nothing like him.
Arriale is not just a double threat but a quadruple one: a virtuosic pianist and improviser and a brilliant composer whose conceptual brilliance never overpowers the accessibility of her compositions. This has made every one of her albums a must-hear, and The Lights Are Always On is among her best."
CD Hot List
"A new album by pianist and composer Lynne Arriale is always an event in the jazz world, and sure to land on more year-end best-of lists than you can shake a stick at."
Isthmus
"Arriale has great emotional pull, and there are whirlpools and whirlwinds in her playing. There is this pattern in Arriale where she begins with darkness, then everything is bathed in light. This is a strong recording, about strength. She has succeeded in putting us in the hero’s shoes, the light of the powerful mind pushing on through protests, and making change. And she has succeeded in putting us back in our shoes, with this invested strength to go on and change."
The Flash Button
"This is an album that is drawing on a lot of important messages of solidarity, of resistance, of hope, of joy, and it’s absolutely exquisite… a gorgeous sense of space and melody... This album emotionally, feels very necessary right now… outstanding!"
A Closer Listen
"The hopefulness beneath it all is the subtle kind, not stomping out in front but glowing with simple everyday persistence. Like an actor who can pack half a dozen emotions into one line, Arriale doesn't need to explain or dramatize. Her playing simply lets us feel the weight of history, old and new, with a grace that seems effortless."
All About Jazz
"..a brilliantly mature pianist and composer whose music has grown and evolved into something profoundly attuned to social and political conditions of our time….
Always a fabulous musician….she has come to realize the confluence of art and life, for its better and worse.
Her last two albums especially reveal how her vision, insight and passion cohere with her sense of being a fellow human and citizen in America, and of the world in very troubled times. Emotional and musical eloquence radiate from her playing with heartfelt ardor and honesty, and focused intensity. We are hearing a sort of heroism at work, her generous spirit and commitment, her exquisitely pointed and expansive testimonies.
I would say she is the best jazz piano artist to emerge from Milwaukee."
Culture Currents
"…. A powerful collection of songs performed by a like-minded trio of depth and musicality."
Jazz Sensibilities
"A beautiful release."
Winnipeg Free Press
"Arriale’s tunes are deeply melodic, and her piano touch is pure, swinging, and makes use of “space,” much like Tommy Flanagan, and Hank Jones. It is a heartfelt presentation that is both relaxing and invigorating at the same time."
Audiophile Audition
"She offers her music, like a beacon of hope."
Musical Memoirs
"I sometimes wonder where the gift comes from that produces music that can communicate from one person to another and touch each other's soul….that inspiration comes from a holy place. Perhaps because inspiration and the art it produces is mysterious and powerful, and can move people in deep and profound ways."
WICN Sunday Jazz Brunch
"A personal, honest and passionate album."
Le Soir
PREVIOUS PRESS
"....there's an overarching feel of freedom and joy that surpasses all that came before. Majestic themes typically build intensity over the tracks while allowing Lynne's bandmates plenty of room to shine...This album sits atop a discography that continually evolves, from an artist who manages to combine the ethereal and ferocious. And one who never lets us forget the melody."
Jazz Police
"...the improvised melody flows in a rush through Arriale's fingers, as if the power of the combined forces of the trio were unable to contain the music."
Jazz History Online
"A singular voice as a pianist and leader … a powerhouse. Haunting, gorgeous - she has a knack for finding a song’s heart."
Downbeat
"This sound comes straight from the spirit. Arriale displays a devotion to melodic and harmonic nuances many artists ignore. She holds the audience spellbound."
Jazz Improv
"She achieves a special, deep connection with her audience, and the energy flows both ways. Arriale’s emotional authenticity allows her audience to feel and think along with her."
JazzTimes
"Arriale is one of those few musicians who are able to delve beneath the surface of a melody reaching ever deeper into the inner core of the music... One of the true modern day poets of the piano."
Jazz View
"She and her musicians seemed to be inventing out of a shared metabolism."
The Boston Globe
"Quietly and brilliantly the Lynne Arriale Trio has been defining the art of the piano trio [and has] created smart, inventive jazz that has the capacity to wow audiences thanks to its expansive approach to tunes, virtuosic playing and sheer longevity."
All About Jazz
"Lynne Arriale is, in the best sense of the term, a popularizer. Her music is instantly engaging and accessible; it draws you in and catches you in its gentle, sharp hooks. She takes pieces in the public domain like Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" and "Kum Ba Ya" and transforms them into manifestations of her own lucid, rhapsodic sensibility. Her vision of such material is so personal and meticulously detailed and complete that often it feels like there is little opportunity or need for improvisation. But from deep inside them, she does invent upon these songs."
JazzTimes
"Lynne Arriale creates difficulties for reviewers: how to find fresh superlatives for a pianist who maintains such extraordinarily high standards? There is a handful of jazz pianists that I would gladly listen to all night long. Those master craftsmen Ahmad Jamal and John Bunch immediately come to mind. Arriale makes three."
The Sunday Times, London
"Few recordings touch the soul. Lynne Arriale’s keen sense of melody renders her music far more passionate than most. Stunning piano work – the trio has obviously attained the level of communication paramount to all great threesomes. While her technique is expert, it never dilutes the emotional impact of her music."
JAZZIZ
"Lynne Arriale has been producing a solid array of albums for a decade and a half now. I personally don't think she gets enough credit or focus Stateside, but maybe I'm reading the wrong papers/magazines.A style that is both in tune with legends such as Jarrett and Tyner but also aligned with contemporaries like Charlap and Mehldau. Either way, I think more people need to know and discover the simple beauty and complexity of Lynne Arriale. And there's no better time to experience it than now with her new release. Arriale pulls out a lot of intimacy and longing throughout Solo....the important aspect here is her ability to make you think of it differently....melodies that tell the listener to look inside oneself.... A feeling of longing and desire wraps around you as you listen to the number. Arriale's performance is close and connects on many different levels."
JazzWrap
"I've always loved the intimacy of Lynne Arriale's records but nothing will strike you more than when you hear a great musician alone with their instrument than when you hear "Solo." A wonderful record for all jazz fans (and yes you there thinking you're not a jazz fan--yes, you.)
Much like a brief glimpse, the subtlest touch can convey substantive and heavy emotions, as does Arriale with her expressions on piano. Solo is never fussy, never overbearing. Arriale gets everything it is possible to get out of each note without meticulously wringing them dry or ponderously studying them from every angle. Arriale has attained such a level of mastery in her approach that all she requires is a brief moment of polish before she moves on... a near subconscious fluidity of motion and thought."
All About Jazz
"Lauded for more than a decade’s worth of acclaimed quartet and trio recordings, Lynne Arriale’s solo project introduces a new batch of evidence suggesting she’s one of the top working pianists in her field. An expressive composer and an intuitive arranger... "
Downbeat
"Lynne Arriale has been standing the critical jazz audience on its ear for more than ten years with her exquisite melodies, deceptively simple lines, and what Jazz Times described as “a flawless touch, an impeccable sense of complex rhythms, and a harmonic curiosity... And together, this threesome has produced some of the most elegantly accessible yet sophisticated music of any small jazz ensemble working today."
Jazz Police
"This is why solo piano recordings exist. Evocative, but not a shameless grab at the heartstrings. Complex, but not a dissertation on the theory of black and white keys. To my mind, the best approach to the piano solo recording is to take the nuance and give it emotional impact, while simultaneously transforming the broader music statements into an undercurrent of subtlety. Arriale clearly gets it. Proud to make this my Pick of the Week."
E Music - “Solo” - Pick of the Week
"Lynne Arriale is a monster of a piano player—a gentle monster. She swings as hard as anyone but in a modern way….She is an explorer, and a true artist, with a very unique voice and her ego seems to be completely out of the picture, allowing her to take musical explorations that only such humility can get you a ticket for. And to top it off, she writes beautiful melodies that are memorable and singable, yet with mindboggling harmonic richness."
Jazz Improv
"Over the last 15 years, Lynne Arriale has made a case for herself as a top-rank jazz pianist through her recordings. If any doubt existed that she can run with the big boys, this release dispels it. She stands toe-to-toe with trumpeter Randy Brecker in a stunning and affirmative collaboration. Their rapport is lucid, and their spontaneous exchanges often offer jewels of invention and exchange."
Downbeat
"Some piano trios are all about the individual virtuosity of their members or focus on complex, iconoclastic arrangements. Lynne Arriale's trio gives primary place to group empathy. The communication she shares with (her trio) produces interpretations of familiar themes that glow with a sense of proportion and coherence that is all the more effective for being so uncommon."
Boston Globe
"Regardless of what she is playing, Arriale pours her heart and soul into the enterprise."
All About Jazz
"Pianist Lynne Arriale brings a wider audience to jazz, I believe, because, like orchestra leader Maria Schneider, she values the heart over the head. Or rather, she places the head in service to the heart... she understands that all these notes, all these interesting constructions of notes, all these scales and harmonies and time signatures, all this interaction of instruments, all this playing out of melodic ideas, all this spontaneous composition called improvisation has as its purpose a communication of emotions, of truths about the human condition, of observations about the world around us."
The Jazz Breakfast
"Nuance—what an album! Arriale’s original “Wrapped Around Your Finger” starts the disc off on a mysterious and haunting note. This Sting standard isn’t a particularly dark tune, but Arriale gives it new depth with her wealth of harmonic knowledge. Her playing is intense and urgent; important and captivating. Her left hand keeps its independence, hitting pedal tones and keeping time, reminiscent of McCoy Tyner, as her right hand flies away."
Jazz Improv
"Once in a while we find ourselves delightfully reacquainted with an old friend, someone we thought we already knew so well, only to suddenly discover a new talent, a new philosophy, a new look, a small alteration in style or a more significant transformation. We’re awed by the change yet also relieved that the original basis of our attraction remains. Such is my encounter with Lynne Arriale’s new (and gorgeous) CD/DVD, Nuance: The Bennett Studio Sessions…"
Jazz Police
"Perhaps her finest CD filled with the sparkling clarity that graces her music."
United Press International "Best CD"
"This may well be the best group you’ll hear all year."
The Sunday Independent- Dublin
"Arriale is a rarity among pianists today, commanding airplay with her trio recordings. Growing media attention and a sophisticated sense of melody allows her to reach both aficionados and the casual jazz listener, making Arriale one of the more talked about artists in jazz. She has a profound sense of wonder at the ways in which a melody can be dissected and reassembled. Each track is notable for the way in which the trio finds new wrinkles in the most familiar of melodies."
Billboard
"…Arriale creates singing melodies of great depth, beauty and interpretation."
Augsberger Allemeiner
"A powerhouse! A singular voice as a pianist and leader. Arriale’s playing is haunting, gorgeous – a breeze of warm sophistication and accomplished pianism with expressive passion and intelligent interpretation. She has a knack for finding a song’s heart."
Downbeat
"One of the most exciting pianists in contemporary jazz!"
The Guardian - UK
"Even people allergic to jazz respond to her music. Arriale’s blissful embrace of easily hummable music continues to win her admirers. It also makes her something of a rarity. She is a serious player who combines intelligence and technical ability with a welcoming sensibility"
The Boston Herald
"Arriale possesses an immaculate technique and, more importantly, a rare instinct for melodic phrases. Unlike so many of her peers, she does not approach her material as a mathematical puzzle, instead she is alive to the poetry."
The Sunday Times London
"There’s great innovation in this group! The trio revealed its unmistakable class as a chamber ensemble. She proved with great talent, how to let the sound ring, as if listening into its core. Her fingers sing soundscapes of perfect beauty. A true virtuoso."
Passauer Neue Presse
"Lynne Arriale fronts an impressive power trio. She pinpoints a song’s power, majesty, and soul simultaneously."
Jazz Week
"Arriale’s ascent to front-runner status is surely achieved. One of the most intuitive pianists combining head with heart, her improvisations are tethered to a tangible, hugely melodic treasury. Their three-way communion is a model of rapport and their solos disarmingly superb. They are hands down winners and serve as a template for jazz piano trios. Arriale has indeed arrived!"
IAJE Journal
"Lynne Arriale’s candid approach to piano playing speaks volumes. Everything here is in equal proportion: uniformly smooth and penetrating tone, technique galore, and a harmonic sense that’s sophisticated."
Keyboard Magazine
"Her original compositions will blow you away"
Celebrity Cafe
"…unrivalled emotional depth!"
JazzZeitung
"Lynne Arriale is dynamite!"
The Oakland Tribune
"The finest American trio on the loose at the moment... Arriale’s eye for unusual material keeps it dazzingly fresh, while the original numbers are no less seductive."
The Sunday Times - London
"She played so beautifully that the stars fell from heaven… We are dealing with a natural talent with a strong feeling for the jazz tradition as well as a brilliant technique and a perfect sense of taste and style."
HIFI Video Test
"A new star shines on the jazz firmament. Lynne Arriale is an exceptional talent whose luminous tone and superlative melodic flair combine with her own musical vision informing the frequent creative surprise of her work. An ebullient performance and a miraculous flow of ideas from Arriale, this is a great album."
BBC Music Magazine
"Arriale’s quality of letting the melody “breathe” that strikes one immediately. That, and letting her improvisations find their way without piling on practice-room pyrotechnics, give the pianist’s probe a ‘for the first time’ freshness."
JazzTimes
"...An instrumentalist drawn to the kind of lyricism that exerts a strong hold on the listener long after the last note has sounded... [Her] phrasing recall[s] Bill Evan’s impressionistic balladry, but a distinct blues sensibility, combined with a fondness for recurring motifs and a knack for elegantly integrating twists in time and tempo, give the music a personality of its own."
Washington Post