Armen Donelian Crafts a Unique Pianistic Perspective On "Inquiry," Set for June 5, 2026 Release By Sunnyside Records (SSC 4040)

Pianist-Composer Presents an Array of Original Compositions and Standards In Collaboration with Vocalist Dominique Eade, Trombonist Ed Neumeister, Bassist Jay Anderson, Drummer Dennis Mackrel, And, Primarily, Himself

Ever restless, pianist-composer Armen Donelian takes yet another bold creative turn with Inquiry, his 15th album, to be released June 5 on Sunnyside Records. The result of a four-year, carefully conceived and painstakingly executed studio process, the album is a haunting and introspective work with no real precedent in Donelian’s long career.

 Beginning life as an unaccompanied demo recording of Donelian’s then-newest compositions and arrangements, Inquiry evolved considerably from that genesis. While musing on the timbral possibilities on some of the tracks, Donelian (and engineer Dave Cook) had the revelation that he could build out orchestrations himself “by making subtle EQ shifts to the piano sound to create new ‘voices’ and ‘instruments.’” Yet Donelian also applies actual new voices and instruments to several tracks. Vocalist Dominique Eade, trombonist Ed Neumeister, bassist Jay Anderson, and drummer Dennis Mackrelappear in various places to put their own stamps on Donelian’s ruminations.

 “I relied on Dominique, Ed, Jay, and Dennis to provide actual voices and instruments where I felt the arrangements called for them,” the pianist says. “It’s due to their superb musicianship that the tracks they played on sound as if they were recorded live.”

Indeed, only two of Inquiry’s ten tracks were done in a fully live session: the tender rendition of Miles Davis and Bill Evans’s “Blue in Green,” performed as a quartet with Eade (singing Cassandra Wilson’s lyric), Anderson, and Mackrel; and the gorgeous improvisation “Aqua Reminiscence,” which comes from an alternate take of “Blue in Green.” Yet this quartet gives equal depth and color to Donelian’s “What Is” and “Petite Triste (A Little Sad),” with Neumeister joining them for the heavy, fraught “Inverted Reality.”

 There is no less intensity, however, in the tunes with fewer players. “Dark Moon,” a sinister and forlorn recasting of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, is stark and stunning in both its solo first half and Neumeister’s disorienting arrival in the second; Anderson brings a shading and contour to “Weeping Willow” that only enhances its distinct moodiness. Meanwhile, Donelian’s piano playing is as remarkable as ever, needing no augmentation for the astonishing inventions he puts on Stephen Sondheim’s “Somewhere” or the sheer power of his own “Beyond” and “Too Soon Gone.” 

 At bottom, Donelian explains, Inquiry is “a place of unrelenting musical introspection” that “expresses my love for the piano sound.” More to the point, though, it is a multifaceted, multidimensional work of art.

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