Search - Ted Rosenthal :: Live at Maybeck 38

Beautiful Music Played Beautifully

Gary L Connely | Hercules, CA | 02/28/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What's the old saying? "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Hmmmmmmmmmm.... Does that mean that jazz pianist Ted Rosenthal, who is on the faculties of Juliard and the Manhattan School of Music, can't play? Hah! If that's what you think, you've just flunked today's class!!



Mr Rosenthal's contribution to Concord Records' "... Live at Maybeck Hall" series, was his first solo recording. Was it a success? Here's what Jazz Times critic Nancy Ann Lee had to say, "Rosenthal musters considerable flair, power and beauty... (he) scores big with two-handed artfulness, ideas galore and abundant technique." Ms Lee got it right.



On "... Live...," Mr Rosenthal plays songs ranging from a piece by that well known jazz pioneer, J.S. Bach, to songs by James P. Johnson, to Lennie Tristano, (yeah, I know you've heard "Lennie's Pennies" a hundred times - but I promise you, Mr Rosenthal's version has something fresh to say), to several of his own compositions. In short, this is beautiful music, played beautifully.



The sonics are excellent, Concord's field recording crew was top notch and by the time they recorded Mr Rosenthal's album - the 38th in the series - they were more than a little familiar with Maybeck's wonderful acoustics. The album sounds like what live albums ought to sound like - you're right in the room.















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