For those unaware, Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer Geoffrey Keezer issues his first live trio record in more than 15 years. Uniting colossal improvisers and masters of fluid foundation John Patitucci and Clarence Penn, Live at Birdland presents an album-length gesture that reinvigorates the soul of live releases from the heart of New York City.

“I’ve always wanted to release a Live at Birdland record,” says the Wisconsin native who came up listening to Art Blakey’s 1954 Blue Note recording A Night at Birdland. Over three nights, the trio performed six sets in the Birdland Theater. “So we had six chances to create something new each time,” he says.

Committed to the same ethos of joy and defiant creativity as his heroes Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea, Keezer transmits the enormity of their contributions across Live at Birdland, sharing his reverence for the impact they’ve had on his music, his career, and the way he seeks to live day to day. “They are two of my musical heroes and kind of also human heroes,” says Keezer, who had the honor of recording with Chick earlier in his career and subbing in Wayne’s quartet for several dates in 2009.

“I loved that both of them were youthful, almost childlike, in how they approached life. Even though they were doing incredible works of art and creating very complex music, they never took themselves too seriously. They always had a great sense of humor.”

Featuring three compositions from Corea and three from Shorter (four on its digital release), Live at Birdland also spotlights two originals from Keezer. “Both Wayne and Chick really encouraged me to compose,” he says. “They were always asking, ‘Are you writing something?’ and Chick especially would get annoyed if I wasn’t. So I really wanted to honor their wishes by including these two tunes on the record.”

1. Highwire – The Aerialist (8:33)
2. Flagships (7:27)
3. Eternal Child (10:28)
4. Song of the Canopy (11:53)
5. Imp’s Welcome (7:29)
6. Joy Ryder (9:00)
7. Dance Cadaverous (8:42)
9. Madame Grenouille (6:55)

On an album that presents three artists who tessellate through the music, signaling commitment and intention at every moment, it opens on Corea’s always-impressive, spirited embrace that is Highwire – The Aerialist and then we get the delicious dreamscape that is Shorter’s Flagships, Corea’s Spanish-hued, simply divine Eternal Child, and the Keezer-composed, brightly harmonic Song of the Canopy.

Along next is an analog synth in trio, a synthesizer fantasia for their rendition of Corea’s Imp’s Welcome, which is in turn backed by the spirited, staggeringly effervescent Shorter classic Joy Ryder, another Shorter mood within the languishing Dance Cadaverous, closing on Keezer’s F sharp minor blues composition Madame Grenouille (from his 1997 trio release Turn Up the Quiet).

Available on Live at Birdland’s digital release only, “Virgo Rising – Cathay” combines Shorter compositions from High Life and Joy Ryder and serves as a 6-string electric bass feature for Patitucci. The set concludes on Keezer’s F sharp minor blues composition “Madame Grenouille” from his 1997 trio release Turn Up the Quiet. Informed “melodically” by John Coltrane and “vibe-wise” by Duke Ellington, the tune also features a thrilling end-of-set solo from Penn. “It’s just a fun tune to stretch out and end the set with,” says Keezer.

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