Steve Kuhn

Gifted pianist Steve Kuhn has enjoyed a career revival since signing with Venus Records. Pavane For A Dead Princess - a daring jazz rendition of classical compositions - has become huge in Japan and is considered one of Kuhn's definitive works. Kuhn's soft and clever piano turns selections by Ravel, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Faure into exciting jazz. The treatment is so effective that one might not realize at first that these were originally classical pieces.

It's easy to love the piano of Steve Kuhn — even without the album's cover image of a model exposing herself by the side of a freeway! Kuhn's keys have a lot more class than warrants the cover — and from the very first note of the set, you'll be transported away from thinking about that image, and caught in rapt attention to Steve's warm tones on the piano. The album's got a more inside, more lyrical approach than some of his other albums of the past decade or so — but that's the charm of Kuhn on the Venus label — as they've really managed to capture the softer, sensitive side of Steve's talents. Bass is by David Finck and drums are by Billy Drummond — on titles that include "Morning Dew", "Emily", "Dear Old Stockholm", "Super Jet", "Two For The Road", and "Be My Love."

Veteran pianist Steve Kuhn and his trio (with bassist David Finck and drummer Al Foster) dig into six Spanish and Mexican melodies with Quiereme Mucho, turning them into straight-ahead jazz. Latin rhythms are largely absent from a set that includes "Andalucia" ("The Breeze and I"), an up-tempo "Besame Mucho" and "Time Was" ("Duerme"). The music in general is boppish and full of wit, with Kuhn often quoting other unexpected songs along the way. Finck and Foster have their brief spots but this is largely Steve Kuhn's show. The music may have been largely de-Latinized but the result is one of Kuhn's most swinging recordings.