| Jazz |
One Word to Describe This Album: Astonishing.
Capturing the essence of a culture not one’s own is among the most delicate and daring of artistic pursuits. Yet, every so often, a musician emerges who not only attempts it but achieves it with such finesse and depth that the result feels less like interpretation and more like a heartfelt homage. Enter George Crotty and his remarkable trio (also known as GC3), a group that offers a musical voyage scented with the perfume of the East, rich in spices and shimmering with restraint. Their latest release, Heart Music, is not simply a jazz album. It is a masterclass in cultural synthesis, a meditation in sound that speaks fluently in multiple tongues while preserving the intimacy of a whisper.
A classically trained cellist with a degree from Berklee College of Music, George Crotty has long been dismantling the traditional confines of his instrument. Drawing upon the improvisational idioms of jazz, the modal intricacies of Indian ragas, and the subtle complexities of contemporary chamber music, Crotty has forged a language all his own, lyrical, exploratory, and deeply grounded in the idea that music is a bridge, not a border.
His artistic path has taken him through the vibrant musical ecosystems of New York, Detroit, and Toronto, working alongside luminaries such as Bob Ezrin, Adam Rudolph, Simon Shaheen, and Paquito D’Rivera. He has performed with ensembles like Brooklyn Raga Massive and the National Arab Orchestra, and brought his talents to both stage and screen, from the Broadway tour of The Band’s Visit to the evocative soundtrack of Assassin’s Creed Mirage. With every new endeavor, Crotty has seemed to gather pieces of the world, folding them quietly into the voice of his cello.
Heart Music is perhaps the culmination of that journey, a transatlantic travel journal rendered in song, shaped by creative encounters in cities as varied as Copenhagen, Delft, Berlin, Toronto, and Brooklyn. These compositions feel both global and grounded, illuminated by a rhythmic engine of rare subtlety and force: bassist John Murchison and percussionist Jeremy Smith. Together, the trio subverts the traditional hierarchy of the jazz trio format. Here, the cello does not dominate so much as it dances, entwined with the bass and percussion in a fluid, democratic exploration of groove, tone, and texture. The result is a sound that feels almost architectural: clean lines, quiet strength, and a balance of intricacy and spaciousness.
There is something profoundly generous in the way this trio makes music, a kind of transmission of cultural memory, of musical heritage refracted through their own lived experiences. This is not world music in the shallow, borrowed sense, but in the deeper, more honest meaning of the phrase: a music of the world, by artists who have lived within it and listened well. In this regard, Crotty joins the rarefied company of musicians like flamenco guitarist Juan Carmona, who have long worked at the confluence of tradition and innovation, genre and geography.
Heart Music is only the second time in recent memory that I have encountered a project so thoroughly and respectfully hybrid, one in which the fusion of genres and cultures is not an afterthought but the very premise of the artistic vision.
From the first note to the last, and even in the design of the album’s cover, everything feels meticulously considered. There is no flamboyance here, no attempt to dazzle through excess. And perhaps that is precisely why this album is so affecting: because it radiates sincerity. Because it reflects the kind of artistic honesty that refuses to shout, choosing instead to speak clearly, beautifully, and with purpose.
This is music made not for the marketplace but for the heart, and one suspects that’s exactly where it will linger.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, May 22nd 2025
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Musicians :
George Crotty – Cello, Compositions
John Murchison – Bass
Jeremy Smith – Percussion
Tracklist :
Bandish
Heart Music
Niggun
The Task At Hand
Twelfth House
A Game
Cigarettes At Sunrise
Saturn Return