Dick Hyman, piano solo
RR-116CD
[HDCD]
Dick Hyman, one of the most accomplished and versatile musicians alive, is especially known as an authority on early jazz. After a lifetime of playing and studying the music of Bix Beiderbecke, Hyman announced he’d like to record for Reference Recordings a solo program of music associated with Bix, including all five original pieces Bix wrote for piano. (Most likely, these are a recorded first.) Hyman arranged other numbers Bix performed with various groups, and plays and improvises upon these in his distinctive, brilliant style. The title track is an infectious Hyman original reminiscent of the period. An attractive bonus is a piano four-hands performance with Hyman's friend and stride authority, Mike Lipskin.
Throughout a busy musical career that got underway in the 1950s, Dick Hyman has functioned as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in film scores, orchestral compositions, concert appearances, and well over 100 albums recorded under his own name. While developing a masterful facility for improvisation in his own piano style, Hyman has investigated ragtime and the earliest periods of jazz and has researched and recorded the piano music of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Zez Confrey, Eubie Blake and for Reference Recordings, programs of Duke Ellington and Fats Waller.
“Prof.” Keith Johnson recorded THINKING OF BIX in the renowned facilities of Skywalker Sound in California, using as always his own custom-made microphones, electronics and high-resolution digital converters. The compact disc is encoded with the High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) process, and the 176.4 kHz/24-bit masters will be released soon in RR’s HRx series, for computerized music servers.
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1. Thinking About Bix 3:58 Dick Hyman / Eastlake Music 2. Singin' the Blues (Till My Daddy Comes Home) 3:19 Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young / Con Conrad, Robinson J. Russell EMI Mills Music / Sony ATV Tunes / R.J. RusselI Music 3. Ostrich Walk 2:55 E.B. Edwards, N. LaRocca, T. Sbarbo, L. Shields EMI Feist Catalog, Inc. 4. I'm Coming, Virginia 5:22 Will Marion Cook, Donald Heywood / EMI Robins Catalog, Inc. 5. Jazz Me Blues 3:43 Tom Delaney / Edward B. Marks Music Co 6. Candlelights 4:32 Bix Beiderbecke / EMI Robins Catalog, Inc 7. 'Tain't So, Honey, 'Tain't So 2:43 Willard Robinson / Bourne Company 8. Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down 2:54 Ray Ludwig, Howdy Quicksell / Sony ATV Tunes LLC / Sinless Music 9. In the Dark 6:01 Bix Beiderbecke / EMI Robins Catalog, Inc 10. Clementine (From New Orleans) 2:47 Henry Warren / Henry Creamer Shapiro Berstein & Co., Inc./ Four Jays Music Co. 11. Lonely Melody 5:10 B. Merroff, Sam Coslow / Hal Dyson / Sony ATV Harmony 12. In A Mist 4:01 Bix Beiderbecke / EMI Robins Catalog, Inc. 13. Sweet Sue (Just You) 3:16 Victor Young, Will J. Haris / Shapiro Berstein & Co., Inc 14. Wringing' and Twistin' 4:51 Frank Trumbauer, Thomas "Fats" Waller / EMI Robins Catalog, Inc. 15. Flashes 2:56 Bix Beiderbecke / EMI Robins Catalog, Inc 16. Davenport Blues 5:22 Bix Beiderbecke / EMI Robins Catalog, Inc 17. You Took Advantage of Me 2:28 with Mike Lipskin (piano four-hands) Richard Rodgers / Lorenz Hart Warner Bros. Inc., Williamson Music Co. Total Time - 66:26 |
Reference Recordings are distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading