Dave Frishberg: You're a Lucky Guy

P>Along with Bob Dorough and Mose Allison, Dave Frishberg remains one of the ageless hipsters of jazz. On this 1978 recording, reissued in 1999, Frishberg joins with four other jazz veterans for an upbeat but stingy 37 minutes of music. Frishberg sings on just a couple of tunes and only two of his many compositions are here, so the album focuses on him as an instrumentalist. He can be called a nonchalant pianist, tuneful and melodic without being pretentious and ornate. Master valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer shows up for about half the cuts and takes some rousing solos on Ted Koehler and Rube Bloom's "Truckin'" and on Al Cohn's "P-Town". But it's Frishberg's work with Al Cohn which makes this album desirable. Cohn, who Frishberg "called the most complete and profound jazz artists I was ever associated with", was one of Frishberg's major inspirations dating back to the 1960's in New York where he was playing regularly with the major jazz figures, including Ben Webster, Eddie Condon, Zoot Sims, Carmen McRae, and Gene Krupa in addition to Cohn. Cohn and Frishberg duo on "Travelin' All Alone" and "If Dreams Come True". But it is on a sentimental, romantic "I Surrender Dear" musical where their musical coming together works best with Cohn's warm tenor sound is at its most compelling. The three main protagonists do well in ensemble on Frishberg's bouncy Saratoga Hunch. This happy, but short timed album, appropriately ends with Frishberg soloing on "Cheerful Little Earful", revealing a Fats Waller influence. The rhythm of Jim Hughart and Nick Ceroli are there to keep time which they do expertly as expected from veteran jazzmen.

A appealing album with good music buoyantly played. Recommended.

Tracks:Truckin'; Travelin' All Alone; The Underdog; That old Feeling; If Dreams Come True; You're a Lucky Guy; P-Town; I Surrender Dear; Saratoga Hunch; Cheerful Little Earful