Benny Green is a pianist. One of the young stars of American jazz. He has a look that you wouldn't bet a cent on, with that shy schoolboy face, but he's good. Really good. He grew artistically in that extraordinary forge that is Berkeley and immediately stood out by accompanying Betty Carter and then joining the Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.
What I like about Green is his style, which I would call joyful, absolutely entertaining. It seems to echo the jazz-blues of Bobby Timmons, with an irresistible driving swing. However, Green's true inspiration is Oscar Peterson. In common, they have, besides the speed of execution and the strong rhythmic sense of syncopation and offbeat timing, the same feeling for melody, so skillfully “twirled” among the arpeggios. Those incredible eight-finger chord scales, running up and down like a mischievous cat on the keyboard, never become a sterile display but are generous outbursts towards fun expressed in notes. And it is the same Peterson who acclaims him as the winner of the Glenn Gould International protege prize in music in Toronto. A few months later, Green wins the first prize among pianists in the Jazz Times Readers Poll. Brown. Thus, his credentials are sealed, and he secures the esteem of the strict American critics. He has dozens of collaborations as a sideman to his credit, but lately, he has produced real gems solo and in a duo with Russell Malone.
And the one reviewed is one of my favorites: 11 interpretations of immortal pieces plus an original piece, Green's Blues. Green is not an innovator, a “new voice” in the landscape of jazz piano. His approach is not cerebral but immediate, almost humorous. He manages to convey the brightness and pleasure of a somewhat classic stride piano sound, with ragtime hints, boogie, and soul figurations. But Green is not nostalgic; on the contrary, he is perfectly integrated into current jazz. Listening to his productions (see for example the trio at the Village Vanguard), we hear a complete, eclectic, and extraordinarily gifted musician, capable of moving 360 degrees in the jazz of yesterday and today.
Tracklist
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