Michael Ullman
Keith Jarrett has said that he thinks there is room for C.P.E. Bach recordings on a modern piano. He proves himself right with these 1994 recordings.
Thelonious Monk can sound like someone skipping (or even tripping) — and yet the swing is there.
These pieces integrate the various, varied sounds James Shipp and Nadje Noordhuis produce into something rhythmically as well as melodically exciting and coherent.
The trio on hEARoes is enthralling; it doesn’t sound like anything I have heard.
I wonder why this fine session was withheld for 49 years. It might be the bitter-sounding texts, or the very fact of vocals in a jazz session.
As usual with Craft Recordings reissues, these lps are impeccably produced: the silence of the recording before the music starts is almost startling, but it’s the clear sound of what follows that is most impressive.
The album seems to me to be about spotlighting the ensemble’s sound rather than the virtuoso displays of its leader.
This collector is happy to have Luis Russell: At the Swing Cats Ball with all its faults.
The last time Kenny Barron recorded solo was in 1981. That, besides the quality of the music, is a reason to treasure this album.
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.
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