Mike Jones: Live at Steinway Hall
On this album Mr. Jones playing before a small group, takes on all tempos without fear or trepidation. He swings, he strides, he dazzles with speed and sentimentalizes with romantic playing as he runs through this play list of eleven tunes taking almost 80 minutes to do it. Taking advantage of this generous amount of time made available by Chiaroscuro, each tune gets a thorough vetting. Jones can change tempos in a wink of the eye as he shows on "I'm Through with Love". Making sure that he doesn't fall into that trap of predictability, he takes a tune and completely changes the way one normally hears it played, like a bouncy, close to funky "It Happened in Monterey". On other tracks, while he doesn't sing, you can almost hear the lyrics as on his interpretation of "The Things We Did Last Summer", which features more than one tempo change.
Jones belongs to the old-fashioned school of piano players. No minimalist style for him, he uses the entire keyboard giving the listener full value for his time and money. This album is easy to recommend.
Track Listing
This Can
Personnel
Mike Jones - Piano
Album information
Title: Live At Steinway Hall | Year Released: 2001 | Record Label: Chiaroscuro Records