Dick Hyman

As the title implies, this is very much a swing set. Pianist Dick Hyman (a master of all pre-bop styles) has little difficulty emulating Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum and Count Basie (among others) plus his own style in an octet also featuring trumpeter Joe Wilder, trombonist Urbie Green, altoist-clarinetist Phil Bodner, baritonist Joe Temperley, rhythm guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, bassist Milt Hinton, drummer Butch Miles and (on three tunes) altoist Frank Wess. The opening and closing numbers are ad-lib blues both titled "From the Age of Swing"; sandwiched in between are ten swing-era standards plus a couple of obscure Duke Ellington items. Among the highlights are "Topsy," "Them There Eyes," "Rose Room" and "Mean to Me." No real surprises occur, but mainstream fans should like this swinging set.

Performed (as was Dick Hyman's previous Fats Waller project) on a Bosendorfer Reproducing Piano and actually recorded from the piano at a later date, this outing finds the great Hyman interpreting 14 of Duke Ellington's compositions. Most intriguing are Ellington's nearly atonal "The Clothed Woman" and "Tonk" in which Hyman somehow duplicates an Ellington-Billy Strayhorn piano duet! Other highlights include the joyous "Drop Me Off In Harlem," "Doin' the Voom Voom," "Echoes of Harlem" and "The Gal from Joe's." The recording is as rewarding as one would expect.

Ruby Braff & Dick Hyman - America, The Beautiful (1982) {Arbors ARCD 19269 rel 2002}
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© 1982, 2002 Arbors Records | ARCD 19269
Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / Cornet / Wurlitzer Theatre Organ

Ruby is one of those few people who could solo with a pipe organ, who could improvise with such an unusual instrumental background. It requires a very special ability - flexibility, ingenuity, and invention. Ruby, of course, is his own man. Like his idol, Louis Armstrong, he commands the center of attention, even if the background is something as odd as a theatre organ. The tonal colors of a pipe organ are its great glory. Above all, I'm stimulated by being able to orchestrate on the spot. And once you launch into a bright swinging tempo with the instrument sounding perhaps a beat behind the fingers, the sensation is like leading a herd of galloping elephants. You don't dare look back.

Throughout a busy musical career that got underway in the early '50s, Dick Hyman has functioned as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in a long career involving film scores, orchestral compositions, concert appearances and well over 100 albums recorded under his own name.