Fans of piano trio music will certainly rejoice in the releases of pianist David Janeway’s Distant Voices, an album that unites him with Cameron Brown (bass) and Billy Hart (drums) who lay in concise, expressive solos on tunes like Gary Peacock's "Gardinia" and Walter Bishops's "Waltz for Zweetie." Janeway has released trio projects in the past, and Janeway’s own recognizable style stems from a synthesis of important elements of many great players like Bud Powell, Hank Jones and Bill Evans. Showing great versatility, Janeway plays swinging bop lines on his original “One for Cedar,” before displaying delicate touch and harmonic subtlety with his Fender Rhodes on Freddie Hubbard’s beautiful ballad, “Brigitte.” Fine melodic conversations between the three musicians uplift tunes like Wayne Shorter’s “Nefertiti” and Woody Shaw’s “Moontrane.”

For a study in Janeway’s impressive mastery of chording and ability to provide an impressive and influential interpretation of a classic, check out his lively cover of Hank Jones’ “Minor Contention.” Besides complex rhythmic interplay throughout, the trio also demonstrates some playfulness, particularly on Janeway’s other self-penned tracks, “Excursion,” “In Passing” and “Movin' On.” Their intuition borders on telepathy on numbers like Mercer Ellington's "Blue Serge." Refined over the course of long successful careers, the musicality of Janeway, Brown and Hart gives us a deeply fulfilling experience on Distant Voices. (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)