Mitchel Forman: Lost and Found

This wonderfully strange disc, Lost and Found is the result of a confluence of spirits. Recorded in 1979, pianist Mitchel Forman was performing with Gerry Mulligan's quartet. Forman was invited to the Tuscan villa of Franca Mulligan's parents, Gerry's in-laws. There, Mulligan recorded the young pianist performing originals and Mulligan compositions. Besides a church-arty "Jeru," Forman performed Mulligan's "Butterflies with Hiccups."

The composition possesses elements of 1920s jazz piano, stride, ragtime, and mainstream. Forman's playing captures the title perfectly with his off-time, almost loping playing, centering around an ostensible waltz meter. Forman leaves very little space for silence, but he does not do so in too wordy a way as Art Tatum often did. His playing does have a dense economy where no notes are wasted. This recording is a gem from beginning to end, teetering on the crown of "Butterflies with Hiccups."