If you spend much time perusing articles or reviews about jazz musicians, sooner or later you'll read that a particular artist has "big ears" -- and that has nothing to do with physical attributes. Rather, the writer is remarking about the artist's openness to a wide array of influences and willingness to draw upon a whole world of music in expressing his or her particular identity. One listen to Denali Pass, pianist, composer, and educator Ellen Rowe's second CD as a leader, and it becomes clear that Rowe certainly fits that categorization. Rowe and her Ann Arbor, Michigan-based quartet (which features saxophonist Andrew Bishop, drummer Pete Siers, and bassist Kurt Krahnke) are firmly based in the jazz piano quartet tradition, drawing particularly on post-bop and modal approaches, and Rowe herself is widely known for her melodic and lyrical sensibility in addition to her impressive chops. But Rowe also pushes herself and her bandmates; on Denali Pass the quartet moves effortlessly from a warhorse standard like "Time After Time" through pieces that encompass influences ranging from Carole King to Michael Brecker to Afro-Cuban jazz and even serial music (on "12 Ton Blues" [get it?], composed by multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson and recorded during an NPR performance at the San Jose Jazz Festival).

1		Time After Time
2		Denali Pass
3		Lullaby
4		12 Ton Blues
5		Charlie's Tune
6		Summer Solstice
7		Third Dimension
8		Home
9		Benediction