Search - Derek Smith :: Love for Sale

PROGRESSIVE JAZZ TRIO WITH SOPHISTICATED PIANO PLAYER

06/25/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After searching my music collection for my very favorite albums, I tried to locate the same artists at [Amazon.Com]. As many are, one favorite was from the short lived "Quad" days. Derek Smith put together a "Project 3" vinyl album (Don't Let Go) which was produced by Enoch Light in 1976. "Love for Sale" was his lead off tune on that album, too, but of the seven standard tunes on that album, I liked three others better. Okay [Amazon.Com], will we be getting any of those wonderful albums from that era? This 1989 album is a trio played in progressive jazz fashion. Derek Smith plays the piano with beautiful feeling - swells, dreamy, slow (sometimes fast), time to enjoy, trading lead with the string bass as well as interludes with the drums. He's had a lot of experience in different styles and settings playing with Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Watrous, Benny Goodman, Dianne Warwicke, and Burt Bacharach. All nine tracks are standard tunes. I especially liked Autumn Leaves (Track 2), Summertime (Track 3), When Sunny Get Blue (Track 5), Tristessa (Track 6), and A Day in the Life of a Fool (Track 9). No where as good as his 1976 album but he had more instruments and voices to work with on that project."