Michael Ullman
The smallish Friend Recital Hall was an ideal setting for pianist Laszlo Gardony to impose his engaging personality, as well as his musical versatility and power.
Read MoreThe music comes out of an extended personal crisis; the compositions found here are a testament to a musician regaining his voice.
Read MoreThe advantage to listening to the recorded Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite is that on disc pianist Jason Yeager writes beautifully for septet: the textures he evokes in his arrangements are curiously varied and invariably moving.
Read MoreVince Guaraldi isn’t the heaviest of jazz pianists: he played at a time when McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans were omnipresent. But his tunes, his gently humanist approach to music, meant that he reached listeners that others couldn’t or didn’t.
Read MoreGiven Keith Jarrett’s current disability, this new ECM recording is an unexpected gift to his fans.
Read MoreThe sound of both musicians is indelible: trumpeter Enrico Rava is warm and rounded; pianist Fred Hersch, often icy, is fetching and detailed.
Read MoreTrombonist Steve Davis says he never strays very far from the blues, and he proves it with this fine album.
Read MorePlay or Die brilliantly showcases what Miles Davis heard in Tony Williams’ playing: variety of sound within a restricted framework.
Read MoreEven without the new takes, this Rhino reissue would be welcome: Mingus Three is to my mind one of the great trio albums.
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