Ryan Mathews What's Your Story

Featuring NYC's top musicians in the field of swing jazz including Bucky Pizzarelli, world-renowned cabaret star Maude Maggart and the jazz diva of New Orleans Ms. Banu Gibson, Molly Ryan's "crazy-good" new album packs a swingin' punch!…

There seem to be a flurry of pianoless CD tributes to the late pianist Bill Evans in the mid-1990s, by far the most successful is this release by the extraordinary guitarist Howard Alden. He waited until he started playing a seven string guitar to fully explore Evans' rich and often difficult melodies, as he was then able to keep them in their original keys while being able to round out the original harmonies by playing the low notes himself on the extra string. Of course, it doesn't hurt him to have the talented bassist Michael Moore (who worked for a time in Evans' trio) and drummer Al Harewood on hand. Another thing that make this CD stand out from similar efforts is Alden's willingness to concentrate on the less familiar works by the pianist.