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About Ted Rosenthal
Ted Rosenthal Trio: Wonderland
by Dan McClenaghan
Lots of Christmas Albums" come out every year. Many of them are nice for an easy holiday listen, but let's face it, expectations are low in terms of endurance, and they can often be rightfully seen as quickly done, quick buck affairs. Then there are the ones that have endured: the Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas (Fantasy, 1965); Elvis Presley's A Christmas Album (RCA, 1957); and Frank Sinatra's A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra (Capitol, 1957). And aside ...
Continue Reading...Ted Rosenthal Trio: Out of This World
by Dan McClenaghan
2011 has been productive year in the recording realm for pianist Ted Rosenthal. His contribution to The Westchester Jazz Orchestra's superb Maiden Voyage Suite (WJO Records) helped elevate the re-imaging of pianist Herbie Hancock's classic Maiden Voyage (Blue Note, 1965) to the highest level of big band artistry. With Out of this World, Rosenthal slips back to the more minimal piano trio, for his exquisite interpretations of some of The Great American Songbook's most beloved compositions.Covering classic tunes ...
Continue Reading...Ted Rosenthal Trio: Out of This World
by Edward Blanco
Borrowing from The Great American Songbook is a standard practice for many jazz artists, who include one or more pieces when rounding out a repertoire of primarily new material. Not so for pianist Ted Rosenthal, whose affinity for music from the Songbook is reflected on at least two previous recordings, Rosenthology (Concord Jazz, 1994) and One Night in Vermont (Planet Arts, 2003), focusing on music from Irving Berlin, Jimmy Van Heusen, Tadd Dameron and Matt Dennis. On Out of This ...
Continue Reading...Ted Rosenthal Trio: Out Of This World
by Dan Bilawsky
Standards, when presented in their original form, speak of the time and place of their creation, but part of their longevity is due to the fact that they aren't encased in an early twentieth century amber that fossilizes and dates the material. The music of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Billy Strayhorn, and Richard Rodgers is timeless, but it can all be refashioned, refitted and recast to serve any musician's vision and taste. The songs are bodies and the artists are ...
Continue Reading...Ted Rosenthal Trio: Impromptu
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
As legend has it, the term third stream" was invented by Gunther Schuller in 1957, to prevent jazz and classical fans from resenting incursions onto their turf by the other side. This new musical entity would be neither classical nor jazz, and not just a simple merging of the two: it would be more than jazz with strings, or classical pieces played by jazz artists. The challenge was to take compositions that are centuries old and infuse them with a ...
Continue Reading...Ted Rosenthal and Thelonious Monk
by Nick Catalano
This is the year for numerous Monk retrospectives. There are many themes. One show celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Town Hall concert when Hall Overton arranged Monk's compositions for a large band. Another show focuses on Monk's pianism at Minton's Playhouse. And on and on. The concert that I found most intriguing was held in a series dubbed Jazz at DaCapo, with Ted Rosenthal as artistic director. Entitled Images of Monk the performance at the delightful uptown concert hall ...
Continue Reading...Ted Rosenthal Trio: My Funny Valentine
by Elliott Simon
Ted Rosenthal's My Funny Valentine finds the pianist joined by bassist George Mraz and drummer Al Foster in a tribute to singer Helen Merrill. Rosenthal and Mraz have toured extensively with Merrill in Japan and this CD serves up songs from her repertoire. The subtleties of the arrangements combined with intriguing juxtapositions and perfect lyricism make this a stellar session. The tunes are from the Great American Songbook and, Merrill connection aside, this continues Rosenthal's exploration of ...
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