Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz

MARIAN McPARTLAND'S PIANO JAZZ
BILL EVANS, CHICK COREA, OSCAR PETERSON, CARMEN McRAE
Concord Records

Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz program is in its 24th year on NPR, and over the years her guests have provided amazing insight into their own music and jazz in general. Concord has released four of them recently on CD, and they are truly gifts for anyone interested in jazz music and musicians.

Bill Evans is one of those jazz musicians whose fan base continues to grow. He was certainly the biggest influence on virtually every pianist who followed him. His appearance on Piano Jazz was a highlight, not only for McPartland, but for the series itself. He spends a great deal of time responding thoughtfully to McPartland's questions and illustrates profusely. When she asks him to demonstrate his concept of displacement of time, he illustrates at length, using the well-known piece "All of You". McPartland plays a snippet of the piece with Evans where it is almost impossible to find the time in the onslaught of swirling triplets and accents.

He talks about his concept of the trio—he chooses his trio members, he says, based on their ability to be given a great deal of freedom and use it responsibly to contribute to the whole. They talk about Eddie Gomez and Scott LaFaro's contributions to Evans' music. Much of the rest of the disc is given over to duet performances by Evans and McPartland, and their styles are particularly well-suited to play together. The disc provides a valuable glimpse into the mind of Evans as well as a rare opportunity to hear him talk casually about both music and some elements of his personal life. It's a great show that you wish (as I'm sure McPartland must have) would never end.

Chick Corea is one of the famous group of Miles Davis sidemen to emerge from the late 1960s, though he cut his teeth on bebop like every musician from the '40s on. McPartland readily admits to not being very familiar with his fusion work, admiring his newly-reissued Now He Sings Now He Sobs. Corea offers up a fresh solo version of "Brasilia" that demonstrates everything there is to love about his playing—the rhythmic invention, the playful sense of melody, the sheer joy in creating. He talks about the great deal of practice he put into his interpretations of Mozart's piano concertos. There's also a great solo rendition of "Monk's Mood" before McPartland and Corea provide some free-wheeling improvisation on "Jitterbug Waltz", "Yesterdays", "Free Piece" and Corea's rousing "Spain". McPartland offers a reflective version of "Crystal Silence", a piece Corea composed and recorded with the original Return to Forever. This disc, played alongside Corea's recent releases, the reissued Now He Sings and ECM's recent Corea collection from their Rarum series, gives a wonderful overall picture of Corea's career and his important place in jazz.

Oscar Peterson is probably the best-known jazz pianist to emerge post-Art Tatum. Tatum is obviously an influence, as is evidenced by Peterson's opening number, "Old Folks". Peterson is a great interview—witty, insightful, and with genuine grace. Peterson and McPartland have known each other for a long time and it is clear they have a great deal of respect for each other and enjoy playing together. There are a lot of performances on this disc, with Peterson offering "Old Folks", "Place St. Henri", "Body and Soul", "Emily", "Take the 'A'Train", McPartland playing "Willow Creek", and the two duetting on "Like Someone In Love", "Falling In Love With Love" and "Cotton Tail". Truly a great program that you can listen to again and again.

Carmen McRae could be sharp-tongued and thorny, but she clearly had much respect for McPartland, and the two produce a wonderful program full of great conversation and great music. There is also a rare opportunity to hear McRae accompany herself on the piano, though of course McPartland provides her usual perfect accompaniment on songs like "Sweet Lorraine", Carmen's Blues", "I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" and "Old Devil Moon." McPartland offers up a sparkling rendition of "Embraceable You" and her own improvisation "Theme For Carmen".

Piano Jazz is a really rare archive of valuable material that will serve jazz fans, aspiring musicians, and researchers for years to come. There are insights on these programs that I don't recall hearing before, even though most of the musicians who have been guests on the show have been interviewed thousands of times. That's a testament to McPartland's musicianship and human qualities, and she is deserving of our praise and thanks for sharing her special relationship with these musicians with us.

Read "Marian McPartland Swings!"
Read our review of Live At Shanghai Jazz