ALBUM SPOTLIGHT : The ‘Heart’ of the Matter

GEORGE MRAZ

“My Foolish Heart”

Milestone

* * * The name George Mraz may be as unfamiliar as it is hard to pronounce. But it shouldn’t be. Widely praised by musicians despite his lack of recognition with a broader audience, bassist Mraz is one of the great jazz imports. The playing of this native of the former Czechoslovakia is a brilliant testament to the stimulating power of jazz as an international language.

Bassists, of course, with the possible exceptions of innovators such as Jimmy Blanton, Oscar Pettiford, Charles Mingus and (in the electric arena) Jaco Pastorius, are not particularly high-profile performers. Their vital work is generally conducted, too often barely noticed, at the bottom of the sound mix.

And Mraz, quiet, laid-back, has been even more unnoticed than most. This, despite the all-star list of leaders with whom he has worked since coming to the United States in 1968. To name only a few: Charlie Mariano, Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae and Herbie Hancock. Mraz spent two years with Oscar Peterson and made regular appearances with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, Zoot Sims, Stan Getz and Art Pepper. More recently, he has played with Joe Henderson, Hank Jones and Joe Lovano.

Yet despite this extraordinary track record, Mraz, 52, didn’t make his first album as a leader until 1991, when he recorded “Catching Up” with pianist Richie Beirach and drummer Peter Donald for the Japanese Alfa label. Four years later he recorded his second, the well-received “Jazz,” originally on Alfa but released in this country on Milestone.

This latest release finds Mraz once again working with Beirach, as well as another regular associate, drummer Billy Hart. And what becomes immediately clear in this appealing, eminently listenable outing is that his reputation as an utterly dependable accompanist is fully deserved. Not only does he provide a solid rhythmic foundation, but he also adds little counter-melodies and unexpected ostinatos that have the immediate effect of framing the tune in a kind of instant, spontaneously generated arrangement.

His work with Beirach reinvents the interactive piano-bass style established by Bill Evans with his various bassists. The imagination, the invention and the symbiotic interplay are similar. What is different is that Mraz’s playing is so strong, and so pervasive through the fabric of the music, that it establishes an equality with the piano that was rarely present in the Evans approach.

But Mraz is much more than a superb accompanist, and his soloing--finally given the space it warrants--stands out even more. Always in tune, always thoughtful and imaginative, he plays with the drive of a jazz horn player and the emotional passion of a jazz singer.

Listen, for example, to his lush, melodious bowing on Billy Strayhorn’s “Passion Flower” and the ballad standard “Haunted Heart”; his precisely articulate plucking on Thelonious Monk’s “Ask Me Now,” Miles Davis’ “Blue in Green” and the title tune; the gentle but urgent swing he brings to the waltz rhythms of the Disney tune “Alice in Wonderland.” Then there are the absorbing themes of his own tunes--the dramatic “Icicles,” the boppish “Picturesque,” the contemporary-sounding “Robo Bop.”

Mraz’s music doesn’t reach out and hit an audience over the head, but it does bring foot-tapping rhythms and intriguing musical ideas together for a compelling listening experience.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good), four stars (excellent).