Sullivan Fortner has been lauded for his extension of the jazz piano tradition, especially by the kind of critics who want jazz to remain in the acoustic realm of sixties Blue Note and Prestige (and ignore his work with his multifarious partner Cecile McLorin Salvant). No wonder, then, that the Grammy winner leaps out of the pocket in which he’s been put by well-meaning press with Leave That in There. Joined by bassist Tyrone Allen II and percussionist Kayvon Gordon from his road band, Fortner swings between the hard bop of “Sorcerer’s Stick” and synth-funk of the two-part “Aerobatics,” the literally swirling Hammond organ of, well, “Swirl,” to the Yoruban funk of “Sugarcane,” the frisky bop of Lawrence Williams’ “Number 3” to the slow-burn vocable ‘n’ organ balladry of “Hymn For Linda.” It would almost seem like eclecticism for its own sake, except that the entire record is bound not solely by its performances, but also by Fortner’s ever-expanding abilities as a tunesmith. He doesn’t just write melodies in order to set up solos, but to be memorable in their own right – indeed, he ends the record with “Another Poignant Time,” one of his strongest songs, just to drive that point home. Now that he’s firmly ensconced in the world of mainstream jazz, it’s time to experiment, and Fortner sounds like he’s having a blast doing it on Leave That in There.
