Armen Donelian, Eddie Gomez, Billy Hart - Stargazer (1981/2025)

Produced when pianist-composer Armen Donelian was not yet 30 years old, Stargazer—his debut recording as a leader—was released in 1981 on a small Japanese record label and only available elsewhere as a hard-to-find import. Until now, that is. On October 3, Donelian’s longtime label Sunnyside Records will reissue Stargazer, a stunning and remarkably assured trio date with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Billy Hart, for the first time in nearly 45 years.

The reissue comes just in time for Donelian’s 75th birthday in December. “I never really look back that much on my career, or even think about the idea of a ‘career,’” he says. “I’m not by any means tied to the past.” Nevertheless, with his first album rarely heard by human ears in more than a generation, “felt strongly this was a document that needed to be available.”

Indeed it did. Donelian’s high-caliber chops as a pianist, improviser, and composer were readily apparent on that day in April 1980, when he gathered into a New York City studio with Gomez and Hart (both already celebrated for their work with Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock, respectively). Pieces like the swooning “Southern Belle” and the ruminative waltz “Silent Afternoon” are stellar examples of all of these gifts. More than that, though, they show the stark originality that the 29-year-old had already cultivated as a protégé of pianist Richie Beirach, percussionist Mongo Santamaria, and saxophonist Sonny Rollins.

Every bit as impressive, though, is the rapport he instantly establishes with his trio mates. Donelian’s interaction with Gomez and Hart on the opening title track and the giddy delirium of “Love’s Endless Spin” is positively electric. And, on the spontaneous tandem invention “Free at Last,” the lines of communication between the three musicians are so powerful that even knowing it’s a recording, one feels the urge to not get too close.

The obscurity of Stargazer inherently makes the reissued album a revelation to most fans. Even hardcore jazzheads, though, will find a new discovery in the bonus track “Queen of Light,” recorded for the album in 1980 but left off the Atlas Records release the following year. Built on a sultry medium-slow Hart groove, the tune finds Donelian and Gomez in turn piling up earthy, bluesy runs, then artfully twisting them in cerebral and suspenseful directions. Stargazer is technically a reissue, but it sounds every bit as fresh as a new release.