Bluebird

Russell Malone, Benny Green | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 22, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B000294RR6
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,115 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Reunion Blues

2. It's Alright With Me

3. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

4. Who Can I Turn To?

5. Love For Sale

6. Flowers For Emmett Till

7. Bluebird

8. Feel Like Makin' Love

9. Passport

10. Moonglow

11. Where Is The Love?

12. Wheatland

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Three's a Crowd, June 22, 2004

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bluebird (Audio CD)

Advance copies of this album were available several months ahead of the official release--whether to allow for word-of-mouth promotion or a timelier, less competitive marketing moment is unclear. No matter, because it's timeless, mainstream music that sounds good regardless of time or season. Not that the program is predictable and unvaried. Quite the contrary, Green and Malone are able to come up with a line-up that surprises the listener at every turn, even though both stick to their respective instruments--no electric keyboards, distorted guitar, or double tracking.

The program mixes classic Cole Porter ("It's Alright," "Love for Sale") with Wonder-Hathaway-Flack 70's pop ("You are the sunshine," "Where is the love," "Feel like making love") with movie and Broadway themes ("Moonglow," "Who can I turn to") with Oscar Peterson and Charlie Parker jazz standards ("Passport," " Bluebird," "Wheatland") and of course public domain (the blues). The two perform solo numbers and summon up a veritable history of jazz styles--from stride to boogie to swing to bebop to contemporary rock. Not surprisingly, Green evokes memories of Oscar Peterson but, especially in his improvising over his own walking bass lines, Dave McKenna as well; Russell Malone is a convincing Herb Ellis one moment, complete with the percussive rap on the body of the guitar, and the next he's a master at executing Wes Montgomery octaves.

In short, these are two comparatively youthful yet seasoned musicians at the top of their game, turning in a performance of surprising richness, color, and variety. I expected a competent but necessarily restrained and homogenous session. To my surprise and delight, the absence of bass, drums, horns and vocals doesn't turn down the heat or interest for a second; if anything, it encourages these overachievers to air out their considerable talents to the maximum. They not only make up for the missing musicians but prove them gratuitous. Rate this album as the best jazz release of 2004 as of mid-year.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars as good as the first one, January 6, 2005

By 

Cedric Westphal "cedichou" (san francisco, ca) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bluebird (Audio CD)

This is Benny Green and Russell Malone second effort together. They played together on 'jazz at the bistro', a live recording in St Louis a few years back. Jazz at the bistro is a great cd, so good that they decided it needed a sequel. And the sequel is as good as the original.

It is mostly standards, with a few pop-ish songs ('you are the sunshine of my life'). The duo piano-guitar works flawlessly: when BG improvises, RM provides a steady bass line, either walking or drumming the chords. And reciprocally when RM solos. They really listen to each other and interplay a lot. They understand each other so well, it seems the music has been written down.

It is hard to say which one to pick between this one and 'jazz at the bistro'. I did not choose, I have both, but anyone interested in trying one of these cannot go wrong with either. Some might say 'bluebird' is not as good as 'jazz at the bistro': the reason would only be because they listened to the latter first, and the former did not create the surprise of the chemistry between BG and RM.

As far as the sound comment made by a reviewer below, I don't see where he is coming from. I don't have a super fancy stereo equipment, but a reasonable one, and I don't hear any imperfections. And I do listen quite closely for the many subtelties in this cd.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sort of a "bi-coastal romance" type thing, September 14, 2005

By 

bluejim (Castro Valley, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bluebird (Audio CD)

Nice job by these two together. I like this album better than any of their respective solo dates that I've heard. But on the used promo copy that I picked up, Russell Malone sounds like he's playing in the next room from the recording studio. I'd like to think that was corrected on the commercial release, but I doubt it.