US Store | 
8-panel Digipak Album
“You can tell the heat of the trio by the laughter boiling over. Not in all cases, admittedly, but for this session, the exhortations and chuckles, picked up by the mic, drive drummer Billy Hart, bassist Ben Street, and pianist Kevin Hays—with a gentle nudge here, a harder shove there—to greater pleasures, in greater complexities, even as they start in simplicity…I grow weary and numb and even cynical watching the news, feeling the grind through my bones; then I hear this, and our race seems worth saving.
— Andrew Hamlin, JazzTimes
“As the swing unfolds on the title track (Hays’ contrafact on guess-which-standard), the three musicians seem to bond at the molecular level. They engage in constant conversation throughout their solos, with the pianist responding in particular to cues from the drummer, while Street threads the needle with aplomb. Elsewhere, one struggles to say who’s leading whom.”
— Michael J. West, Downbeat
***
When pianist Kevin Hays, bassist Ben Street and drummer Billy Hart, three of the most admired and respected musicians in jazz, assembled on one of the darkest, coldest nights of at the end of a difficult year of despair, they were merely together to perform for Smoke Jazz Club’s livestreaming concert series in celebration of Billy’s 80th birthday. What happened next was music of such illumination and joy, that it was quickly decided that the music should be preserved and shared as a recording. ALL THINGS ARE is the result of those performances, capturing these three artists in peak form and reveling in the simple pleasure of making music together after so few opportunities in almost a year. Their record wasn’t planned in advance, but sometimes less planning leads to exceptional results.
That these jazz all-stars from different generations, convening for the first time as a unit, achieved this sublime recital in an empty room, after a single rehearsal, is remarkable. That they were able to coalesce so fruitfully in this environment stems not only from their rarefied musicianship, but also mutual trust built on long-standing relationships.
Hays explains, “This is the way I like to play. As someone who loves improvisation, I do my best to not repeat myself. I like the unplanned and I tend not to be directive – these musicians already have a direction, which tends to be open. This isn’t a free trio; we’re not playing free jazz. But we’re playing with the tabula rasa spirit, with as little as possible figured out other than the bare bones.”
released June 4, 2021
Kevin Hays – piano
Ben Street – bass
Billy Hart – drums
Recorded December 4 & 5, 2020
at SMOKE, New York City
Produced by Paul Stache
Associate Producer: Damon Smith
Recorded & Mixed by Paul Stache,
Tyler McDiarmid & Edwin Huet
Mastered by Christopher Allen
Production Support by Jason Fifield
Photography by John Rogers & Jon Birdseye
All compositions by Kevin Hays (Nivek Yash Music/BMI)
except “For Heaven’s Sake” by Sherman Edwards,
Donald Meyer & Elise Bretton
Kevin Hays is a Steinway Artist
Billy Hart is a Zildjian Artist and Pearl Drumset Artist
Executive Producers: Paul Stache & Molly Johnson
