Showcasing the Versatility of the Piano

Think of the piano as the workhorse instrument of jazz. Its capacity to be melodic, harmonic and percussive provides it--and the music--with the means to function as soloist, accompanist or rhythm companion. And it can shift from one element to the other in the blink of an eye or, more precisely, with the touch of a key.

These four new releases provide an interesting cross section of the great variety of piano jazz settings.

Hanna (his title traces to a knighthood he was granted by the president of Liberia in 1970) is a far-too-little-recognized jazz great. At 65, he comes from a generation of pianists who prided themselves on the ability to play hard-swinging bebop as well as rhapsodic ballads.

He is particularly fond of Gershwin and has recorded the composer’s songs on several previous occasions. In this 1993 outing, his readings also feature saxophonist Bill Easley, but Hanna is clearly the center of attention, playing with a strikingly wide range of interpretations. Hard-swinging on up-tempos (such as the unusually articulate variations on the Concerto in F), he is gorgeously lyrical with ballads such as “Bess, You Is My Woman Now.”

In addition to its solid musical qualities, the Hanna album is a genuine jazz bargain at $6.98 list--one of the many high-quality releases in LaserLight’s low-cost jazz line.

Friedman, 61, is another under-recognized veteran. His resume includes stints with everyone from Dexter Gordon and Chet Baker to Ornette Coleman, Pepper Adams, Clark Terry and others.

Friedman came to prominence in roughly the same time frame in which Bill Evans arrived, and there are many superficial harmonic and rhythmic similarities in style. But Friedman, unlike Evans, was drawn to the avant-garde music of the ‘60s, a fascination that brought an attractively edgy quality, even to his straight-ahead performances.

He is accompanied on this European-made recording by Italian musicians Marco Ricci on bass and Giampeiro Prina on drums. Despite relative unfamiliarity with one another, the trio melds with surprising cohesion. And in tribute to Friedman’s multifaceted interests, the tracks based on standards (“Body and Soul,” “You Go to My Head” and others, in addition to the title tune) alternate with exploratory, avant-garde-styled improvisations. The contrast is entrancing, a distinctive entryway into the music of a pianist who deserves a far wider hearing.

Bley, 64, also emerged during the ‘50s and ‘60s, playing with a similarly extensive range of musicians (Coleman and Sonny Rollins among them). And although he became better known than Friedman, he too chose to avoid being locked into any particular category.

For this solo performance, he elected to take an expansive, spontaneously flowing approach. Much of the music--especially the more lyrical passages and the disjunct rhythmic ostinatos--is attractively provocative. Other passages, especially in the more extended pieces, move a bit too easily into less appealing repetition. But Bley is never less than intriguing--like Friedman a player who should be heard more often.

Thibaudet is a highly regarded classical pianist with a taste for jazz. His performances of transcriptions of such Bill Evans numbers as “Waltz for Debby” and “Peace Piece” make for an interesting marketing concept but not particularly absorbing music. In fact, the immediate temptation to compare Thibaudet’s versions with the originals simply underscores Evans’ genius, not solely as a composer but also for the delicate sensitivity of his touch.

Give Thibaudet credit for attempting a difficult task, but it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to hear transcriptions when the originals are so superior and so readily available.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).