Recording of the Week, Connie Han - Iron Starlet

For our latest Recording of the Week, I’ve been enjoying rising jazz piano star Connie Han’s sophomore album, Iron Starlet, released at the tail end of last month on Mack Avenue records. At twenty-four years old the Steinway artist’s follow-up to 2018’s Crime Zone is a tribute to the legacy of Blue Note piano greats of the past, with the sensibilities of modern piano jazz. With a rhythm section of bassist Ivan Taylor and drummer Bill Wysaske, and accompanied by saxophonist Walter Smith III and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, Iron Starlet showcases Han’s love of the classics with her own personal touches.

Han opens the record in a post-bop vein, her confident piano style leading the charge. Her adeptness on keys is apparent from the get-go, her style both dense and chordal whilst also lyrical. Alongside her Steinway Han also adds a Fender Rhodes to a handful of the tracks, adding some cool nocturnal textures during the opening of ‘Nova’. Han channels her inner Herbie Hancock or Chick Corea on the Joe Chambers tune ‘Hello to the Wind’, injecting a dash of colourful fusion ecocentrism between the comparatively traditional tunes. ‘For the O.G.’ serves as a tribute to one of Han’s favourite players, McCoy Tyner, echoing Tyner’s maximal, harmonic playing. Throughout the record Han delegates powerful unison leads to her two horn players, while Wysaske in particular seems the most tightly glued to Han’s playing; chord stabs on the bluesy swing number ‘Mr. Dominator’ coupled with snappy drums give the tune an extra kick. Wysaske was Han’s high school music tutor, giving a clue to the tight synergy between them, with many of Han’s tunes on the record served well by his percussion.

Han and Co. tread some soulful ground towards the latter half of the record on ballads like ‘Detour Ahead’ and ‘Captain’s Song’, with Smith and Pelt offering some breathy solos alongside a short, smooth detour. Closing out the album they wrap back around into bebop territory with some swinging tunes, while ‘Dark Chambers’ musters the quintet’s final ounces of energy, seeing the record out with a bang. Han’s compositions definitely pay tribute to an older style of the genre - Han herself said of the tunes ‘the music’s intention is to continue a legacy of tough, primal, raw but still intellectually engaging jazz’ - and this rawness definitely shines through, in no small part due to the solid rhythmic backbone many of them share. Resisting the sophomore slump, Iron Starlet is a well-paced selection of diverse tunes; from colourful modern takes to bluesy swings and smoky ballads, Han shows off her adaptable jazz vocabulary and well-studied appreciation for the giants that came before her.