Yvonne Rogers is a New York-based pianist, composer and multimedia artist. The Button Jar is a captivating and deeply personal solo piano album that balances compositional clarity with fearless exploration. Released via Kris Davis’s Pyroclastic Records, this album presents eleven composed works alongside three freely improvised pieces, all delivered with striking conviction.
Growing up in rural Maine without even a television, Rogers developed an imaginative inner world shaped largely by solitude, nature and curiosity, qualities that feel deeply embedded within this music. There’s a sense throughout the album of someone entirely comfortable sitting alone with their ideas and allowing them to unfold naturally.
The album’s title also offers an insightful window into its creative soul. Inspired by the button jar kept by her artist mother for craft projects, this becomes the metaphor for the music itself, just as a jar of buttons can be transformed into countless creations, so does Roger’s musical imagination.
The tracks on this album are presented as musical “miniatures” that explore a core idea that I feel is delivered with assurance and focus, often ending as abruptly as they begin. Rather than feeling unfinished, the ideas are explored to the full. It’s refreshing to hear succinct improvisations, no unnecessary musical filler here!
The playing itself is beautifully controlled yet entirely free in spirit. There’s a light, delicate touch when required, but just as quickly the sound can become bold, monumental and full-bodied. The piano’s full dynamic and tonal range is explored, captured on this record beautifully – closely mic’d, it gives you the sense that you’re inside the instrument and can experience every detail and nuance.
This album would be difficult to define stylistically; there are components of composed contemporary jazz, hints of swing, free improvisation and avant-garde elements. The opening track calls to mind Philip Glass’s rhythmic textures, yet none of these labels entirely define the music. The freedom in the playing feels authentic rather than abstract. That balance is particularly important in the three freely improvised pieces. When playing entirely free, musicians often walk a difficult tightrope – trying to avoid purely random note choices while remaining spontaneous. Here, the improvisations succeed because there is genuine conviction behind the note choices and chord clusters.
The Button Jar is ultimately an album that rewards deep listening. An imaginative journey through creative abandonment. In places not easy listening, but in others deeply melodic and whimsical.
Yvonne Rogers. Photo credit Alice Plati.
Release date 8 May 2026