Some Stride Piano Playing

Henry thins Francis (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 9, 2001)
• Original Release Date: April 9, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• ASIN: B00005J3B6
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,283,756 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Serenade for a Wealthy Widow

2. I Ain't Got Nobody

3. Prelude To a Kiss

4. Stompy Jones

5. Willow Tree

6. Up Jumped You With Love

7. Jitterbug Waltz

8. Wild Cat Blues

9. The Mooche

10. Lounging at the Waldorf

11. Zonky

12. Azure

13. I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket

14. Harlem Blues

15. You Took Advantage of Me

16. Concerto for Cootie

17. The Pearls

18. Black and Tan Fantasy

19. Love Me or Leave Me

20. Handful of Keys

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Stride Piano, July 27, 2002

By 

B. D. Tutt (London, UK.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Some Stride Piano Playing (Audio CD)

...It is certainly the case that many contemporary stride players lack the necessary combination of technique, power and rhythmic tension. Whilst no James P. Johnson or Dick Wellstood, Francis is a respectable player with a solid technique and a firm touch. He is strongly Waller influenced, both in repertoire and approach (and shows little of the eclecticism and harmonic adventurousness of Wellstood or Andy Fielding), but generally holds his own with the material. He is better at medium tempos that at all - out stride, but nevertheless manages a powerful "Handful of Keys" and an appropriately stomping "Stompy Jones". Other highlights include an idiomatic reading of Jelly Roll Morton's "The Pearls", a powerful version of "The Mooche" and an extended rendition of I Ain't Got Nobody".

Recorded at sessions in 1983, 1986 and 1989, sound quality is fine. Not an essential purchase, but one which stride fans will enjoy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Gimpy Stride, January 9, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Some Stride Piano Playing (Audio CD)

Stride piano depends much on precise timing, for its special feeling and stride momentum. This recording, while a nice enough piano instrument and fair audio, is played as if "Thins" is sight reading the music. All the notes are there, just not in the right time. After a while it gets tiring, like a series of notes in no particular groupings. In my view, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing, and this one ain't got it.