Search - Gerry Wiggins :: Live at Maybeck 8

Dr Sausage Would be Proud

Gary L Connely | Hercules, CA | 02/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gerry Wiggins first gig as a professional pianist was with Dr Sausage and His Pork Chops. More than 50 years later, when he sat down at Dick Whittington's piano in the Maybeck Recital Hall, Mr Wiggins was one of our most accomplished swing and bop piano players. In between Dr Sausage and Maybeck. Mr Wiggins had recorded dozens of albums as a leader - mostly with his trio - and had accompanied some of the best singers in the business: Lena Horne, Helen Humes, Eartha Kitt, Kay Starr, Lou Rawle, Ernie Andrews, Joe Williams and Nat "King" Cole, (he was also Marilyn Monroe's vocal coach).



Mr Wiggins' solo set at Maybeck includes 12 standards, ranging from "Take the 'A' Train," to "Body and Soul." If you love main stream jazz, you love these songs and you'll love the way Mr Wiggins plays 'em. You'll catch an echo of Erroll Garner and Art Tatum, (now there's a pair to draw to), but Mr Wiggins is never derivative - he's always inventive - and man oh man, can he swing. Dr Sausage would be proud.



Just a note about the "... Live at Maybeck Recital Hall" series. The fact that Concord Records has discontinued the more than 40 albums in the series, is a terrible loss to lovers of solo piano jazz. All of the albums are good and many, including Mr Wiggins' contribution, (the eighth in the series), are outstanding. If this is your kind'a music, I suggest that you pick up as many of these CDs as you can - they may not be around much longer."