Jazz Articles

Tommy Cecil: Our Time: Sondheim Duos, Volume 2

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
November 3, 2013

This is the follow-up to the 2012 Side By Side: Sondheim Duos by the same brilliant pairing of Tommy Cecil, bass, and Bill Mays, piano. From the opener, the jaunty “Everybody Says Don't" (from Anyone Can Whistle, 1964), it's clear that this 2013 session will unfold like the first--laced with superb technique, imaginative arrangements, feeling and wit. And also like Volume 1, this session neatly punctures the old cliché that Sondheim may be a gifted lyricist, but cannot write beautiful ...