| Jazz |
Julian Shore’s “Sub Rosa”: A Quiet Masterwork that Whispers Secrets Beneath the Surface
With just a few well-placed piano notes, Julian Shore opens the door to Sub Rosa, his latest album, a work of such quiet intensity and layered sophistication that it clearly speaks to a seasoned audience. Rooted in the acoustic tradition yet unmistakably contemporary, Sub Rosa inhabits a space where classical influences intertwine with the rhythmic intricacies of modern jazz. This is not music that yields easily to the casual listener; it demands patience, attentiveness, and a certain maturity born of deep listening, a maturity that knows how to hear what is not said as much as what is.
This is, in no uncertain terms, music for those who have lived with jazz, and grown through it.
At the heart of the album is Shore’s musical writing, deliberate, expressive, and structurally rich, which elevates Sub Rosa beyond mere performance into the realm of serious composition. With this record, Julian Shore doesn’t just confirm his place among today’s most compelling jazz pianists; he makes a strong case for inclusion in the pantheon of the great composer-pianists of his generation. The album feels destined for classic status, a work to which critics and musicians alike may return, again and again, as a reference point.
Shore, who has been praised by DownBeat for his “deep maturity as a composer and bandleader,” is a staple of New York’s ever-evolving jazz scene. He has shared stages with such a wide range of voices, John Patitucci, Gretchen Parlato, George Garzone, Theo Bleckmann, Chico Pinheiro, Chris Speed, Sara Gazarek, Caroline Davis, Noah Preminger, Dave Stryker, Don Braden, and säje, to name a few, that his own voice now emerges as a convergence point, an artist who listens as deeply as he plays. His résumé includes performances at iconic venues like Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Blue Note, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, with appearances at major jazz festivals across Europe, Asia, and South America.
Beyond the stage, Shore is also a thoughtful educator and thinker. He worked closely with Herbie Hancock as an artistic consultant on Hancock’s master class series, meticulously transcribing hundreds of pages of the maestro’s pianistic language. Shore also teaches at the New School and the New York Jazz Academy, and leads workshops and master classes around the globe, sharing his quiet authority and insights with the next generation of jazz musicians.
To describe the emotional experience of Sub Rosa is to tread into deeply personal territory. For this writer, listening to this album unearthed emotions not felt since first encountering Keith Jarrett as a teenager, that sense of awe and almost discomfort at being emotionally overwhelmed by the weight of what one is hearing. It is the peculiar joy of being outpaced by the music, of not quite being able to hold it all in one’s hands, where clarity teases complexity, and melody serves as a gentle façade behind which a richer truth resides.
The title, Sub Rosa, Latin for “under the rose,” conjures an atmosphere of shadows and secrets, of covert operations, hidden codes, and unspoken understandings. It is a term historically associated with secrecy and discretion, and in many ways, jazz has always operated in this realm, as a kind of clandestine language, capable of articulating the inexpressible through abstraction, delivering emotion without uttering a single word. It is in this spirit that Shore offers his own collection of musical confidences.
There is something distinct about Shore’s music, heightened further by the trio format and the brilliance of the musicians he has chosen to accompany him. Thanks to the press notes, we are privy to a few of the album’s subtler insights. “I’ve hidden little references to my life in the track titles,” Shore admits, “but I never want to spell it all out.” He nods to an oft-cited interview with filmmaker David Lynch, who expressed discomfort at having to explain his work: “As soon as a film is done, people want you to talk about it… but the film is the talking. That’s it.”
This idea of embedded meaning and intuitive understanding also extends to the album’s visual presentation. The enigmatic cover art, created by Shore’s mother, artist Tayo Heuser, features the mirrored head of an antelope framed by vivid geometric forms, a visual play between the figurative and the abstract, inviting listeners to draw their own connections between image and sound. “I grew up surrounded by abstraction,” Shore explains. “It feels natural to me, and I think that’s what led me to jazz in the first place. I love the dance between the literal and the abstract. When a jazz musician interprets a standard, they can turn a simple melody into an explosion of feeling.”
Sub Rosa is not a radical album, it does not shout. But it is undeniably complex, and its elegance reveals itself slowly, over time. It is best enjoyed with care, perhaps with a glass of something fine in hand, and a willingness to surrender to the currents beneath the surface.
Because beneath the rose, Julian Shore is whispering, and it would be a shame not to lean in and listen.
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 31st 2025
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Album Release Concert on Tuesday, June 3rd 2025 at Mezzrow, NYC
Musicians :
Julian Shore, piano
Martin Nevin, bass
Allan Mednard, drums
Tracklist :
Messenger
Mission
Must Keep Going
BeaconBlues In Blueprint
All The Things You Are
Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulders)
It Was A Dream
Winter Song
Pegasus (Excerpt)