Mohammed A. Shayeb

Pianist Steve Kuhn, accompanied by David Finck and Billy Drummond, explore classical works by a number of top composers from the 19th and 20th centuries on this Japanese release, though they are used as a launching pad for improvisation. Maurice Ravel's "Pavane for a Dead Princess" is recast as a soft samba, also incorporating a bit of an earlier standard that was derived from the French Impressionist's piece, "The Lamp Is Low." Chopin is obviously one of Kuhn's favorite classical composers, as three of his features, highlighted by a dreamy setting of "Nocturne in E Flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2." He brightens the tempo of Claude Debussy's "Reverie" while retaining its lyricism, while slowing Johannes Brahms' "Lullaby" to a crawl and demonstrating how a master jazz pianist utilizes space as an element of improvisation.

Spectacular playing by Higgins accompanied and backed by Jay Leonhart on bass and Mark Taylor on drums. I will confess that my favorite drummer who was frequently a member of Higgins' trios was Joe Ascione, but Taylor is perfect on this album. If you are a Higgins fan, then you are probably familiar with Leonhart who is almost telepathically connected to Higgins.

Since his stunning debut in 1974 with the now world-famous audiophile recordings for the Three Blind Mice label, Japanese pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto has built a career that now spans four decades. His brand-new trio album What A Wonderful World follows his previous release Gentle Blues (VHCD-1118), his first recording for Venus Records in 14 years. In fact, the 12 tracks in this CD were recorded on the day after 10 tracks on Gentle Blues were recorded. It is remarkable that Yamamoto and his trio recorded enough materials for two CDs in two consecutive days, but then again, he is a veteran pianist who doesn't like to repeat himself and prefers to record everything in a single take.