Enchantress (1996)

His first album in 15 years, Enchantress found John Serry playing the acoustic piano exclusively without becoming a purist or forgetting about the electric fusion that had excited him in the 1970s. Essentially, this is an acoustic date — its only electric instrument is Tom Brigandi’s electric bass. But even so, subtle traces of Return to Forever and Weather Report make their way to this diverse CD, which also illustrates Serry’s love of the acoustic work of Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock and RTF leader Chick Corea. Enchantress is far from predictable; the disc starts out on a lighthearted, congenial note with the Vince Guaraldi-ish “Dyt It” before becoming more cerebral and abstract on “Free Hand” and “Heartfelt” and very impressionistic on “The Image.” One could term this session acoustic post-bop with fusion and electric references, but however one describes Enchantress, its excellence made it clear that Serry (who is also joined by saxmen Gerry Niewood and Ralph Bowen and drummer John Riley) was someone labels should have been paying a lot more attention to.

––Alex Henderson
AllMusic