BENNY GREEN

RENOVATION!

Sunnyside Records

Benny Green, solo piano.

For the past forty years, Benny Green has been heralded as one of jazz’s definitive trio pianists and applauded as a shrewd accompanist. This album breaks that mold. Although he has worked with some of the best in the business, this is a completely new journey for Benny Green. He has walked side by side on stage with a plethora of jazz icons including Ray Brown, Art Blakey and Freddie Hubbard. The great jazz vocalist Betty Carter was quite impressed with Green’s talent. But this time, he steps on stage alone. It is his first “live” solo piano recording.

Recorded before an audience at Dizzy’s Club in New York City, Green opens with his original composition, “For Duke Pearson.” The composition’s melody is catchy and the tune swings happily into space. This is followed by a song he wrote called “Constitutional.” It’s another slow swing with a captivating melody. During his solo performance, Benny Green adds a touch of stride piano to this arrangement.

A song he titles “Cedar Would” (I’m assuming was written for Cedar Walton), has modernized chords and interesting harmonics. I enjoyed the way the composition was built, like brick on brick, climbing strongly into intensity. Green’s improvised solo is both interesting and blows freely like a rogue wind. The applause from his live audience expresses warm appreciation.

Green has included a few cover tunes.  One is the Bobby Timmons standard, “This Here.” The blues walks into the show with long strides. Benny Green’s two hands box with each other across the black and white keys, keeping perfect time, each doing their own thing independent of the other, then coming together in a tight hug of chords and grooves. You really hear his mastery during this presentation.

Here is a display of Benny Green at his most spontaneous, using solo expression and years of mastering his instrument to offer us the best of himself. This album epitomizes his sensitive side, his improvising skills, and his wonderful talents as a composer.  Most of all, it entertains us with his intensity and powerfully affirms Benny Green’s place among the top jazz pianists who are recording music today.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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