Pat Leary Premieres His Soulful Cover of the Miles Davis Classic, “Solar”

Covering any song is a tall task; covering a song from a jazz legend is a whole other level of complexity, but Pat Leary has come through with flying colours. Today, the jazz pianist unveils his remake of “Solar,” originally performed by the legendary trumpeter himself, Miles Davis.

The song’s release comes as part of TRIO, a record of improvisational jazz tracks Leary recorded with drummer Alex Santilli and bassist Jeff Wheaton that he is set to unveil later this year. Originally appearing on Davis’ 1954 album Miles Davis Quintet, “Solar” is considered a modern jazz standard and ranks amongst the most celebrated jazz compositions of all time. Leary has done justice to the Davis classic while also offering a more modern-day take on it.

Remarking on his version of the track, Leary says:

“‘Solar’ is a classic by Miles Davis, and I think each of our foundations has these standards in a strong and irreplaceable place, which is why it has always been natural to revisit them, albeit how we see them in 2023.”

The recording of TRIO began with no real agenda; it all unfolded quite naturally and took on its own form. As Leary explains:

“The recordings for the TRIO album started out very casually and they were originally intended to be demos for booking purposes. After giving it a few weeks and listening back, I really liked what I heard and decided to mix/master and put them out as a collection. It sounded fresh and unique to us as I could hear myself, Alex and Jeff conversing from a natural and deep place. Alex and Jeff only ever give all of themselves when playing and it’s incredibly refreshing and energizing. Our first gig as a trio unit was a standards gig at our friend Lucca’s art gallery and I personally love to play the beautiful old standards.”

Leary, Santilli and Wheaton have called themselves The Pat Leary Trio, united together by their love of jazz and the musical freedom it enables for them. Interestingly enough, Leary was more of a guitarist growing up, and although he began as a pianist, he didn’t really discover a passion for the instrument until his 20s, inspired by jazz pianists like Bill Evans and Glenn Gould.

By his mid-20s, Leary essentially locked himself away for a span of a few years to seriously study piano, learning from Bach, Maurice Ravel, and Wynton Kelly. After literally years of study and practice, Leary has now honed his own unique style of piano, with a lot of new releases on the horizon that he has spent these past few years developing and refining.

Pat Leary ‘TRIO’ album artwork