"Eschewing any type of fireworks in favor of a relaxed, smooth flowing, the set of songs proposed by Jayaweera - his rhythmic sensibilities are reminiscent of Paul Motian, Brian Blade and Peter Erskine - is fruitful, generous and transparent in its purest form."
Filipe Freitas - Jazz Trail
Jazz & Mo'
Rajiv Jayaweera Pistils
Outside in Music, 2020
The term Pistils refers to the seed-bearing part of the flower - depicted on the sleeve - from which the beauty springs. The track Welikadawatta, Sinhala for "Welikada Gardens" refers to this.
The structure of the disc is circular oriental: Pistils is both opener and closer. The opener is lyrical and sung in a non-existent language, the shutter is played in trio (sax, guitar, drums). In between are 7 other compositions by the drummer, all very melodic with a strikingly beautiful playing bass and with refined rhythmic accents.
The drummer is quite modest in his compositions. His interventions are therefore all the more beautiful and impressive. In his breaks he shows himself from a more energetic side, technically strong too.
The tunes are more mainstream, and the oriental influence is there, but it is especially evident in the smoothly constructed beauty of the melody lines. A record that moved us.
Marc Van de Walle