It is a crime that these pieces are not better known. They are extraordinary, of great depth, truly beautiful, and highly addictive. That's all I have to say. Great music performed with gusto. Classical training and virtuosity is self evident. I enjoyed this CD very much. Composer and lyricist Dana Suesse was a child prodigy, giving her first concert, a Rachmaninoff prelude, at the age of nine. At 16 she moved to New York and began composing songs.
Keyboard Wizards III- Arden and Ohman is my favorite disc so far. The other two I own are vols. I and V which are also good but lack the variety Arden and Ohman possess. Vol. III's salient quality is the diversity of ensembles. Piano alone, big band and vocals all are featured which give it an edge over the other great discs. The music and piano work is certainly dated, reflecting the whimsical and seemingly care-free times of the late 1920s. If you are a musicologist or simply a fan of American music history, this album may be for you, too.
This fourth volume in Pearl's series Keyboard Wizards of the Gershwin Era includes 26 tracks of piano-roll recordings by Zez Confrey, a gifted pianist with nimble fingers and a light touch. Barring the four versions of "Kitten on the Keys," the selections here – "Coaxin' the Piano," "Poor Buttermilk," "You Tell 'Em Ivories," "Mississippi Shivers," and "Charleston Chuckles" – will be unfamiliar to most. It's an enjoyable collection nevertheless, and a fascinating document from nearly a century ago.
Keyboard Wizards Of The Gershwin Era Vol V - by Arndt / Banta / Bargy / Bernard / Bloom was released Jul 28, 1998 on the Pearl label. This Volume V in the series Keyboard Wizards Of The Gershwin Era was part of a seven-volume series released by Pearl from 1995 to 1998 and together provides a comprehensive history of that style of music second to none. The sound quality, considering the tracks date back close to 100 years, is surprisingly good and with this issue you get informative notes.
At the peak of their career, Sly & the Family Stone topped the charts with a Greatest Hits album – in 1970, it was their first LP to crack the Billboard Top 200, peaking at number two; an argument could be made that it was the LP that cemented their stardom – and over the years, they've been anthologized many times, almost each compilation worthwhile, but they've never been subjected to a comprehensive box set until Legacy's 2013 four-disc set Higher!…