Review: Armen Donelian’s ‘Stargazer’

Stargazer (Sunnyside, 2025) is a reissue of an album by a trio of pianist Armen Donelian with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Billy Hart that first appeared forty-five years ago, in 1980. Originally released and distributed on Atlas Records in Japan, it was available only as an import elsewhere. Soon thereafter, Atlas went out of business, and most copies vanished. Thus, although the title composition appears on three other albums by the leader for the label —A Reverie (Sunnyside, 1995), The Wayfarer (Sunnyside, 1990), and All or Nothing at All (Sunnyside, 2006) —Stargazer is the first time most will hear the original album bearing that name in its entirety.

At the time of the recording, Donelian was only a twenty-nine years old protege of pianist Richie Beirach, percussionist Mongo Santamaria, and saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Gomez had built his reputation from providing his recognizable sound to recordings with Bill Evans and Hart his own with Herbie Hancock. But Donelian’s choice to use both artists is not tied to these experiences of either.  As the leader notes, “I had played with Billy several times as a sideman in other bands, and met him working with vocalist Anne Marie Moss. Eddie was someone I had seen play with flutist Jeremy Steig and at Bradley’s in various duos. I was fortunate to have personal contact with them, and I was young and foolish, and asked them. They said yes…They propelled the music to places I’d never gone to and really challenged me.” These challenges paid off well. While the trio hadn’t played together before this date, they quickly established an instant rapport. 

Donelian’s title track, his most well-known composition, opens the record. The pianist composed the piece shortly after the death of his mother as a means of processing his loss. In its original form, the song was meant to be ruminative, but his trio mates give it drive and stunning dynamic turns. Gomez’s bass solo is so melodic that one could mistake it as coming from a horn player. The final piece recorded at the session, “Free at Last,” appears second in the sequencing. It is the prime example of the improvising ability of these three. Donelian’s playing stands out for his smooth, glittering right hand and ability to shift rhythms unexpectedly, as well as to venture into the kind of harmonic landscapes inspired by his mentor, Beirach.

The tender ballad, “Southern Belle,” was inspired by Donelian’s fascination with a certain lady. It is another example of Gomez’s legendary lyricism, as heard in his conversational solo that extends beyond into an almost call-and-response-like dialogue with the pianist. The versatility of the trio is on display in the joyous Brazilian samba, “Love’s Endless Spin,” which Donelian had developed and played with Colombian saxophonist/flutist Justo Almario and Brazilian drum great Portinho. The sheer exuberance of the piece is carried with gusto by Hart and Gomez.

Hart delivers a narrative-like drum intro via brushes to “Monday,” a piece that later evolves into a burning counterpoint between Gomez’s bass line and Donelian’s melody. Again, Gomez shines in his solo. While it is essentially a bebop rhythm, Donelian plays a series of unexpected chords. “Silent Afternoon,” the album’s original closer, is a tone poem in ¾ time, offering a sense of relaxation with an impending sense of tension. It is a prime example of the exploratory harmonic landscape learned from Beirach. On this rereleased version of Stargazer , “Queen of Light,” somehow left off the original version, closes. Gomez is front and center and the tune is filled with starts and stops, pregnant pauses, and restatements as if carefully navigating its way to a destination.

Unfortunately, the trio on this record was  short-lived and delivered solely this one recording and a performance at New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall. Hearing the album attests to the fact that the group was indeed criminally overlooked.

‘Stargazer’ is out now on Sunnyside Records. It can be purchased on Bandcamp.