Born in Pittsburgh, raised in Denver, formed as a stellar young jazz pianist in New York, Darrell Grant arrived in Portland, Oregon in 1997 and began a decades-long process of artistic growth and transformation there. In 2007, at the 10-year mark, he released the double album Truth and Reconciliation, featuring trio partners John Patitucci (bass) and Brian Blade (drums) with major guests: guitarists Bill Frisell and Adam Rogers, vibraphonist Joe Locke, and saxophonist Steve Wilson. When Truth and Reconciliation was made, Patitucci and Blade were about to become the rhythm section in Wayne Shorter’s legendary last group. One can already hear the open-ended discovery and risk-taking as it emerges in their interplay, notably on Grant’s imaginative arrangement of The Police’s “King of Pain.” This is one of four trio cuts on the double album, giving Grant the floor for his consummate jazz piano artistry, even as the album transcends the trio idiom. The trio send-off “Algo Bueno,” more commonly known as “Woody ’n’ You” (by Dizzy Gillespie), turns Grant, Patitucci, and Blade loose on a classic bebop harmonic line, while “Tight” harks back to Grant’s formative experience in the band of vocal legend Betty Carter. Another key element on Truth and Reconciliation is Grant’s use of supplemental voice-over audio: Gandhi on “Ubuntu,” FDR on “Resolution of Love,” and Nelson Mandela on “When I See the Water.” Grant performs the spoken-word recitation “I Am Music,” interpolated with “The Geography of Hope.” The album title consciously refers to South Africa’s process of national healing, a theme that Grant broadens and ties together with beautifully sung lyrics on two tracks. The contrasting timbres of the guitarists broaden the album sonically—Frisell is airier, playing electric, often venturing evocative unison lines with Grant, while Rogers plays acoustic and slide guitar with a dirtier country-blues approach. Locke enters on vibraphone for Grant’s stately arrangement of the Jerome Kern & Dorothy Fields standard “The Way You Look Tonight.”