Search - Tommy Flanagan :: Let's Play the Music of Thad Jones

A Flanagan Favorite

Frank Deis | Highland Park, NJ USA | 02/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Living in the New York metro area, we have the privilege of taking regular trips to the Village Vanguard to hear the wonderful music of Tommy Flanagan. His piano playing is perfection, intricate without being showy, and on this CD the great drummer Lewis Nash plays like a mind-reader. Of course he had played these pieces many times with Flanagan, and he knows just the twists and turns that Flanagan is going to take, and shadows the intricacies with amazing skill. It makes me think of synchronized diving, one can't exactly imagine how two people could do such a thing and be so tightly linked with each other. Perhaps it is a disadvantage that all the pieces on this CD are by the same composer -- but Tommy Flanagan has reasons for favoring the music of Thad Jones. The pieces are beautiful and compelling and the CD is one you will listen to again and again. And if you want to hear Flanagan play music of other composers, just buy more of his CD's!! Flanagan is a great interpreter of Monk, among many others.I'm rating this CD five stars because Amazon doesn't provide the option of giving it six or seven..."

Smooth As The Wind

Neal Horwitz | Singapore | 03/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Time to dust off the old, as no one has reviwed this one for a while. Part of Jazz 101 collection to those who are settling in to jazz, and this is one of Flanagan's best, although artists of his calibre seldom made bad music, if ever.

Thad Jones was one of the unheralded composers and arrangers of the 50's and 60's, and his arrangements and charts, whether with Basie, his own big band, small group, were gems. Flanagan ALWAYS played a Thad Jones number-or two, and ensured that his music would not be forgotten. Another CD worth buying is brother Hank playing all Thad compositions).

His playing is clear, crisp, swings politely and lightly, his shadings are just right, and, of course, he can tell a story in a few minutes.

The flowing lines of Mean What You Say are superb, the ballad To You is tender and poignant, the title song Let's moves and shimmies, the intro to Scratch is perfect miniature within a song, sheer poetry. The standard A Child Is Born is told with grace, ease, and wit, not an easy combination.

Go get it, listen to it, again and again. It is serious music, and as is true with art, demands attention, and well deserved attention at that.

Tommy Flanagan lives on.



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