Cincinnati-based jazz pianist and composer Dan Karlsberg steps outside his comfort zone on his newest album, “Rooms Without Walls,” performing unaccompanied for the first time in his recording career. Scheduled for release on April 10, Karlsberg’s seventh album is as different stylistically as each of his six previous ones. A release concert will be held April 13 at Memorial Hall in Cincinnati as part of the Memorial Hall Jazz Series.
“I’ve wanted to record a solo piano album for more than a decade, but it always felt like a daunting task,” Karlsberg said. “There’s such a long history of extraordinary jazz pianists making solo piano recordings that I kept wondering what I could add to that tradition. Another challenge was deciding which side of my musical personality to present. There are many sides to my music—do I show the traditional side or the more abstract side?”
Karlsberg finally uncovered the sound he had been chasing after months of relentless studio experimentation. The breakthrough came through an unexpected source of inspiration: Thelonious Monk’s 1957 album called “Brilliant Corners,” an evocative work celebrated for its freer, more exploratory spirit, standing apart from the more structured style for which Monk was typically known.
“I tried to capture the space and the vibe of that album,” Karlsberg said. “There’s not a strict, steady beat or pulse for a lot of it. It has an elasticity in time. I imagined each track on my album as a room without walls.”
“Rooms Without Walls” features 13 tracks, including three original compositions by Karlsberg and three improvised pieces recorded spontaneously in the studio. The remaining selections are interpretations of works by other composers, including three Cincinnati artists with whom Karlsberg has collaborated frequently: Marc Fields, J.D. Allen, and Dave Ridenour.
“I approached these pieces as if they had originally been written for solo piano—even though many weren’t,” Karlsberg said. “Taking on that challenge taught me a lot about myself musically. It helped me understand what feels authentically ‘me,’ without filtering my music through expectations or assumptions about what others want to hear.”
The Tracks on “Rooms Without Walls:”
1. “Short Poem” – Dan Karlsberg
“This brief piece gave me a chance to expand freely on a small musical idea,” Karlsberg said. “It was the first thing I recorded for the album, so it felt natural to place it at the beginning.”
2. “Jitterbug Waltz” – Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller
“Several years ago I was asked to arrange ‘Jitterbug Waltz,’” Karlsberg said. “I rewrote the song, showing it off in a different light. It never occurred to me to play it as a solo piano work until I started this project. It is one of my favorite performances on the album because it captures the spirit and vibe I was aiming for.”
3. “Chorale for Bud Powell” – Dan Karlsberg
“This piece began with a dream in which I was playing the ending of Bud Powell’s recording of ‘It Never Entered My Mind’ on a bell instrument,” Karlsberg said. “Powell’s performance is so dark and striking that it left a huge impression on me. I recorded this composition once before with a trio on my album ‘Tales from the Winter Solstice,’ but it felt perfect for the mood of this project.”
4. “Gabriel” – Dan Karlsberg
“This piece borrows a theme from one of my favorite composers, Gabriel Fauré,” Karlsberg said. “It comes from the accompaniment to his song ‘Clair de Lune,’ which sets a poem by Paul Verlaine to music. I used that theme as a starting point and built a new work around it.”
5. “Laverne” – Andrew Hill
“I’ve been playing Andrew Hill’s ‘Laverne’ for many years with different ensembles,” Karlsberg said. “It has such a cool, fun melody, and is also incredibly fun to improvise with. This may be one of two songs on the album that has a different vibe from my overall theme. I see it as cleansing the palette and breaking up the mood.”
6. “Viy” – Dan Karlsberg (improvised)
“Improvisation comes naturally to me, and this piece reflects that,” Karlsberg said. “‘Viy’ was inspired by a horror novella by 19th-century Russian writer Nikolai Gogol about a witch and a monster. The music ended up sounding eerie and unsettling, which suits the story’s climactic scene.”
7. “And So It Is” – Marc Fields
“Marc is a Cincinnati trombonist who toured the world with Ray Charles for six years,” Karlsberg said. “The piece has a beautiful melody and groove, along with a spiritual quality that makes it especially moving. I hope Marc records it someday, but until then you can hear my piano interpretation.”
8. “Elation” – Mulgrew Miller
“This is one of many compositions of Mulgrew Miller that I really like, but it’s not ideal for solo piano, so it was an interesting challenge to figure out how to make it work.” Karlsberg said. “It helped to get me out of the box, and I’m really pleased with the result.”
9. “Improvisation 2” – Dan Karlsberg (improvised)
“Unlike many of my other pieces, this one wasn’t inspired by anything specific,”
Karlsberg said. “It simply reflects what I felt at the moment I recorded it.”
10. “Cotton” – J.D. Allen
“This song spoke to me immediately,” Karlsberg said. “It has everything I look for in a
tune—great melody, a strong bass line, groove, blues feeling and just enough
quirkiness to make me smile. To make it work on piano I changed the vibe but kept the
original essence.”
11. “Spook the Old Gals” – Dave Ridenour
“Dave is a guitarist, singer and songwriter in Cincinnati, and I love every song he writes,” Karlsberg said. “The title of this one is taken from a quote by the late 1800s
American composer, Charles Ives, whose music has been a large influence on Dave.”
12. “Thru Messiaen’s Window” – Dan Karlsberg (improvised)
“Olivier Messiaen was a 20th-century French composer known for his innovative
harmonic language,” Karlsberg said. “This piece reflects elements of his music that I’ve
always found inspiring.”
13. “Antoinette” – Scott Joplin
“I discovered this piece while reading through a collection of Scott Joplin’s works
beyond his ragtime compositions,” Karlsberg said. “It’s a beautiful waltz. I only included
the opening section, which I find especially moving, and arranged it as something of a
lullaby.”