Customer Reviews

Piano Reflections

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was my favorite Ellington disk on vinyl, and one of the first I replaced with a CD--with one additional track, happily. It's easy to hear how much Monk was influenced by Ellington, just as others have noted. Duke really was an amazing pianist, endlessly inventive, humorous, quirky, and lyrical. His orchestral music is great, of course, but if you're a fan of piano trios, this is one of the all-time best.

Everything you need to appreciate Ellington is here on this CD. His skill at composition and his magical ear are illustrated beyond compare. You will hear the depth and mood of the slow pieces and the outright swing of the faster ones. Kinda' Dukish has always been a favorite and the syncopation and timing on this track is utterly amazing. This CD is required Ellington.

There's not much to add to what the other reviewers have said. I've owned the LP of this album since the 70s, and it's just flat-out wonderful!

Ellington is generally remembered as a genius composer and bandleader, but he was also an ace pianist. These solo and trio performances show that his unique style encompassed everything from the stride/ragtime/barrelhouse styles he heard in his youth to the sophisticated chromatic "modern" approach of the 50s. And he could be just as expressive alone on the piano as with his orchestra full of monster soloists...

Great stuff!

(Also recommended for hearing Duke as pianist: the 1961 sessions with Louis Armstrong, now available in a couple of different CD packages. Fantastic!)

Anyone who doubts Ellington's talents as a pianist should listen to this album. On many of these cuts he sounds like the missing link between stride and Monk. If you've listened to the piano playing on 1940's "Ko Ko" (only about 20 years ahead of its time) you probably won't be too surprised at how progessive Ellington's playing could be. Here we have most of the facets of his playing: jagged rhythms, impressionistic tone poems, swinging arabesques... Did I mention how damn FUN this album is to listen to? Few people fused genius with sheer entertainment like Ellington.

This is a great showcase of the Duke's piano virtuosity -- not to mention his beautiful compositions. Not a perfect recording, though, since there's a fair amount of high-end hiss, but still quite enjoyable. Almost as good as Money Jungle!

Really beautiful recording of Duke in a trio setting -- shows off his piano without all the hype of a big band behind him. Sort of a cross between Eubie Blake and Bill Evans!

Even though Duke's primary instrument was his orchestra, he was both an excellent piano player and inspiring accompanist. The latter skill has largely been overlooked as the catalyst enabling Paul Gonsalves to reach virtually unprecedented heights during his marathon solo at "Newport 1956." The former capability has arguably also been underrated, especially when you see in his percussive style and frequent "in-the-cracks" voicings the foundation for the style of the "high priest" of modern jazz, Thelonious Monk. But the two albums that listeners frequently go to for Duke's piano--"Money jungle," with Mingus and Roach, and "Duke Ellington Meets John Coltrane"--are both occasions on which Duke elects to keep his offerings to a minimum and to serve, to a great extent, as a mere icon emblematizing the jazz tradition, from its primitive beginnings to its post-bop modernity.

But to listen to either the Ellington of "Piano in the Foreground," which is a somewhat later Columbia date, or "Piano Reflections," an earlier recording made for Capitol, is to discover Ellington's essence--his orchestra via the microcosm of his piano. Of the two recordings, "Piano Reflections" is more exclusively focused on Duke's pianistic abilities (as opposed to the orchestral colors he was capable of extracting from the piano). There are perhaps half a dozen recordings of Duke playing "Dancers in Love" but none better than the version here, which also happens to be the shortest (under two minutes) of the available recordings of the tune.

This is simply one delightful cd. I discovered this in college in the early 1980's, and every now and then I've lost touch with it. Then I find it and return to it and find myself in the same state of stunned delight that I was in when I first heard this in college (as an album).

Ellington is a master of evoking the most wonderful moods, whether tender, happy, playful--and usually a combination of all of these.

There are so many wonderful songs here that it is a shame to pick out a favorite. But I will do so anyway.
"B-Sharp Blues"-hip, fun, playful, happy, vibrant--the words fail here. Perhaps my all-time favorite on this cd has to be "Prelude to a Kiss." This is the most romantic, tender and yet vital piece of music I have heard.

One day, I will slow dance all night, with the cd on repeat, with a beautiful woman to "Prelude to a Kiss." Hasn't happened yet. But one day! I will have to take precautions, I know, for it will so easy for the Good Lord to conclude after that night that I've had more than my share of joy and life. But no, Lord, I'd want another day, another month, another series of decades to dance to all the beautiful songs on "Piano Reflections."

wonderful stuff, these piano trio recordings from 1953 show duke ellington could well have carved a place in the world of jazz for himself even without his virtuoso big band skills. his playing is bright and inventive with a touch perfectly intune with nuances to be found in a song. i love this album and highly recommend it to ellington lovers, or lovers of jazz piano trio recordings. i surely do.

- you should be able to turn on any radio station in america and have a one in twenty chance of hearing at least ONE duke ellington composed or played song...give the man two and a half minutes and you gonna get you somethin classic, believe that!!!

(why dont we have a holiday here that recognizes the achievements of our artistic legends? it would be nice hunh?)

once you learn to appreciate musical giants, such as mr. ellington, the closer you get to joinin the club they call "what-us-grown-folks-be-doin"...

...i grew up on r&b that was good for my soul and hip-hop which toyed with my intelligence...but a good jazz album is good for the spirit because it bridges both...if brother duke aint for you, then look around, there is plenty of good stuff out there...