Yvonne Rogers – The Button Jar
(recorded on September 20, 2025 at Oktaven Audio, releases May 8, 2026; Pyroclastic Records)
Yvonne Rogers – piano
I first heard of pianist Yvonne Rogers in 2024 from Steve Smith’s great For The Record/Night After Night newsletter (sadly now on hiatus). Smith called Rogers’ pianism “sensational,” and on that recommendation, I checked out saxophonist Alden Hellmuth’s 2024 album, Good Intentions, which has Rogers on piano. What I heard in Rogers’ playing with this dynamic young band was a pianist with a lyrical touch and impressive spontaneity, and I knew to keep an eye out.
2026 seems to be the year when Rogers has arrived. Building on her rapport in small groups, which is readily apparent on her fantastic 2023 debut Seeds (Relative Pitch Records), Rogers appears on two of this year’s most exciting albums: Nicole McCabe’s Color Theory and Adam O’Farrill’s ELEPHANT. In an interview with O’Farrill and Nate Chinen, they talk about Rogers’ distinct approach to the piano, which Chinen likens to minimalism, and O’Farrill praises her ability to add color to melodic lines.
This Friday, 5/8/2026, Rogers releases The Button Jar on Pyroclastic Records, her second album as a leader and her first solo piano record. Rogers’ ideas on this album have had a long gestation, no surprise when you hear what a coherent statement The Button Jar is. Rogers says in the press notes that the titular jar was a place where her mother kept materials for craft projects when she was growing up. You could use odd and ends to make something new, “a balance of whimsical fun and meticulous craftsmanship,” she says. This inspiration took shape in short piano studies that Rogers posted on Instagram. In a wonderful act of mentorship, those posts were heard by pianist/album producer/Pyroclastic Records founder Kris Davis, who encouraged Rogers to develop these pieces, and Davis now presents the fully formed music on her label.
Right out of the gate, the album opener “Luster” is stunning, a Fabergé egg of delicately layered rhythmic and melodic ideas. To my ears, it echoes classical piano literature, and at once reminded me of the opening to The Well-Tempered Clavier and the pearl-like piano voicings of Ravel. (1) Then Rogers abruptly breaks the spell with the furious title track, where the hands shadow and echo each other with dance-like rhythmic ideas. The album returns to a meditative space with “Cloud Chorale,” which gently builds to a lovely melody contrasted with pensive chords.
Those three tracks give a sense of how carefully paced The Button Jar is, and the album continues to impress over 49 minutes with a rewarding balance. Tracks that lean toward searching exploration, like “Avid Risks” (an anagram for mentor Kris Davis), are balanced with satisfying melodies, such as on the appropriately named “Little Dance.” Another study in contrast, in the propulsive “Monkeys’ Fist,” Rogers rushes forward to rapid glissandos, while “Puzzle Building” shows off a Hank Jones-like elegance with precise control of the song’s melody. The well-executed variety of sounds is a constant surprise and invites repeat listens.
With any solo piano record, you get a chance to become familiar with the pianist’s sound and ideas. Rogers’ sound strikes me as being balanced between the percussive and harmony-driven schools of pianists, but she sets herself apart with a personal approach. Adam O’Farrill talks about Rogers’ sound in the interview I linked above, stating her touch is “beautiful, clear but not precious.” I certainly hear the influence of Geri Allen (the track “Linear Gel” is an anagram for Allen), but Rogers’ sound is immediately identifiable as her own, and it’s alive with lyricism and an effortless rhythmic acuity.
While listening to The Button Jar, I wondered about the mysterious album cover. I’m seeing it as an image seen through a powerful microscope, revealing a hidden landscape previously out of sight from the ordinary world and now seen anew. This transformation is what Rogers accomplishes on The Button Jar – she transforms well-known materials of pianistic language into an engrossing exploration of inner worlds and found beauty. It’s just the respite we need from the world we’ve found ourselves in.
[Footnote 1] Immediately on hearing the opening track, I thought of one of my favorite albums, Emil Gilels’ legendary At Carnegie Hall (Melodiya/Angel) — SRBO-4110. TNB co-founder Jesse and I have listened in wonderment at Gilels’ intoxicating reading of Ravel’s Jeux D’eau. Here’s the whole recital. You should listen to it all, but the Ravel is at 1:00:34.