Alone: Ballads For Solo Piano - CD

ENGLISH

From the start of his intermittent side career as a jazz pianist, esteemed conductor and composer Andre Previn has shown more feeling for the form than most classical artists who cross over. Going beyond a recreational involvement in improvised music, he has deepened his playing since skimming stylistic surfaces on his bestselling&nbsp;<i>My Fair Lady</i><span>&nbsp;album of nearly 50 years ago. Now 78, he gives us what may be his most satisfying jazz recording in&nbsp;</span><i>Alone: Ballads for Solo Piano</i><span>. The solo format allows him to reflect his debt to piano masters including Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, and Bud Powell in ways his work with trios and combos hasn't, while showing off his super-refined lyrical touch with its sophisticated sense of color. With its scampering stride touches, "What is This Thing Called Love" is the most upbeat of ballads, while "I Can't Get Started" is given a more gentle awakening. With the exception of "Darkest Before the Dawn," an obscure tune Previn wrote with Johnny Mercer for the British musical&nbsp;</span><i>The Good Companions</i><span>, the album touches familiar bases: Rodgers &amp; Hammerstein, Rogers &amp; Hart, Cole Porter, Kurt Weill, Hoagy Carmichael. But invested with personal meaning, this is no typical standards survey. It lives up to the challenge of making your hear these songs in a new light.&nbsp;</span><i>--Lloyd Sachs</i>