The title track from John Finbury’s American Nocturnes – Final Days of July presents an original Americana composition arranged for a remarkable quartet.
At the heart of the performance is Tim Ray on piano. A recipient of an NEA grant, faculty member at Berklee College of Music, and Tony Bennett’s last musical director, Ray’s playing is natural and assured, anchoring the piece with clarity and elegance.
Eugene Friesen brings warmth and depth on cello. A four-time Grammy Award winner with credits that span from Dave Brubeck to the Paul Winter Consort, Friesen shapes each phrase with a human quality — rich, resonant, and personal.
The counterpoint is enriched by Roni Eytan’s harmonica, an instrument not often found in this setting but here made essential. Eytan was the first harmonica player admitted to the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. The song’s introduction is his alone, brought forward through the editing craft of recording engineer Bob Patton.
The quartet is completed by Roberto Cassan on accordion, whose sensitive playing adds color and improvisation. The album is dedicated to Roberto, recorded just months before his passing.
What makes Final Days of July compelling is the way these artists listen to one another. With no percussion, the music carries an elastic sense of time, each voice entering naturally and ornamenting Finbury’s melodies with restraint and purpose.
While the composition and vision belong to John Finbury, it is the artistry of his collaborators that defines the performance. Together they create a chamber-jazz reflection that feels at once intimate and expansive — a farewell to summer, captured in sound.