Jazz Ballads Jazz Piano

Joe Van Enkhuizen & Horace Parlan - Ellington Ballads (1988) {2015 Japan Timeless Jazz Master Collection Complete Series}
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© 1988, 2015 Timeless Records / Solid Records Japan / Ultra-Vibe | CDSOL-6368
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Piano / Saxophone

Reissue with the latest remastering. Features original cover artwork. Comes with a descripton in Japanese. A nice little record that's very much along the lines of the duet sessions that pianist Horace Parlan cut with Archie Shepp – done with a similar open, soulful style that really brings a lot of personal energy to these tunes penned by Duke Ellington! This might be the first time we've ever heard tenorist Joe Van Enkhuizen, but he's a surprisingly great player – and one who carves out these raspy lines on his instrument that fit really well with the well-crafted lines from Parlan's piano – a lot more subtle and spacious than during his Blue Note years, but maybe even more powerful because of that.

Richie Beirach - Ballads I (1986) {CBS/Sony Japan 32DP-300}
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© 1986 CBS/Sony Japan | 32DP 300
Jazz / Post Bop / Contemporary Jazz / Solo Piano

This is the first of the two Ballads albums recorded in Japan in 1986-1987 by the inimitable Richie Beirach. I've been trying to get them for many years, but they have been nearly impossible to track down. Now finally, they are being reissued on the Japanese Sony label.The music is great- it's Richie Beirach playing a mix of his marvelous originals and a few standards. It's great to hear these solo versions of Elm, Nightlake, Leaving and Sunday Song. As usual, Richie's playing is impeccable-the mood goes from eligaic to dark and brooding. There's also a wonderful letter perfect hommage to Bill Evans on his version of My Foolish Heart.

Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA) is an African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African people, as well as for his work with The New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and his collaborations with his "New Thing" contemporaries, most notably Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane.

Paul Bley - Ballads (1967) {ECM Japanese Reissue UCCE-3003 rel 2007}
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© 1967, 2007 ECM Records / Universal Japan | UCCE-3003 / ECM 1010
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

Ballads, which really seems to make ballads out of ballads, has been considered both worthy of hanging on the museum wall alongside the other masterpieces and being accorded special merit as the jazz record most used for background music. Since no less a genius than the great French composer Erik Satie invented the concept of background music, this might not be such a contradiction or insult. Only the short "Circles" invites a real comparison with the piano music of Satie; elsewhere you're in extremely extended territory, Paul Bley's desire to play the slowest music in history meshing with a new style of rhythm section accompaniment that sounds like everything from tuning the drums to adjusting the drapes.

For those familiar with trombonist Nils Landgren and his Funk Unit, a band whose music is rooted in the fertile soil of Afro-American rhythm and blues and jazz, Ballads may come as a bit of a surprise, albeit a very pleasurable one. After two decades of working with some of the best players in jazz, funk, and soul jazz trombonist Nils Landgren has earned his reputation as one of the most expressive, forceful players on the international scene. His work with Thad Jones’ legendary big band as lead trombonist, and in combo settings with Jones in the early 80s certified his status as one of the leading jazz trombonists on the European scene.

Brad Mehldau's warm, utterly enveloping effort, 2016's Blues and Ballads, finds the pianist leading his trio through a set of well-curated standards and covers. The album follows up his genre-bending 2014 collaboration with electronic musician Mark Guiliana, Mehliana: Taming the Dragon, and smartly showcases his return to intimate acoustic jazz. Admittedly, the title, Blues and Ballads, is somewhat misleading, as Mehldau only tackles one actual blues with his jaunty, off-kilter take on Charlie Parker's "Cheryl." Otherwise, the blues of the title is implied more in the earthy lyricism of a handful of ballads. An influential figure in the jazz world since the late '90s, Mehldau has subtly transformed not only the way modern jazz is played, but also the repertoire from which musicians draw inspiration…

Eric Legnini Trio - Ballads (2012) {Discograph ‎6149782}
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© 2012 Anteprima / Discograph ‎| 6149782
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Cool / Straight-Ahead Jazz / Piano

After venturing into funk-soul territory with 2011's The Vox, Belgian pianist Eric Legnini returns to more traditional jazz fare with his ninth studio album, Ballads. Joined by bassist Thomas Bramerie and drummer Franck Agulhon, its 15 acoustic tracks include covers of popular standards penned by the likes of Duke Ellington ("In a Sentimental Mood," "Prelude to a Kiss"), Ira Gershwin ("I Can't Get Started"), and Kern & Harbach ("Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"), alongside five original compositions.