Artist in Residence

 Pianist Jason Moran has always seemed to revel in confounding people’s expectations, and at this point, we don’t know what to expect from him at all — which is probably what he wanted all along. On <i>Artist in Residence</i>, the restless, ambitious jazzman continues to break down barriers and find imaginative modes of expression. He makes his intentions explicit on the opening “Break Down,” a jagged, hurtling stomp featuring the sampled vocals of conceptual artist and philosopher Adrian Piper (“Break down the barriers, break down misunderstanding, break down the art world…”). The gears shift rapidly and with a jolt: The next track, “Milestone,” is a delicate melody written and sung in operatic style by his wife, Alicia. His reading of Romantic composer Carl Maria von Weber’s “Cradle Song” — sensitive at times, fiery at others — is accompanied only by the sounds of a pencil scratching paper. Really. The solo “Arizona Landscape” is a surprisingly effective fusion of stride piano and breezy Western sagebrush song. The cacophonous centerpiece, the impressionistic 12-minute “RAIN,” adds Ralph Alessi’s trumpet and Abdou Mboup’s African accents on djembe and kora, and is followed by a deeply soulful though suitably strange version of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing." Moran never tires of challenging himself and his listeners — it’s hard work for all of us, but usually rewarding.