THE BILLY LESTER TRIO

HIGH STANDARDS

Ultra Sound Records

Billy Lester, piano; Marcello Testa, double bass; Nicola Stranieri, drums.

On the “High Standards” album, Billy Lester and his trio improvise creatively, playing standard jazz songs that become so freely arranged, they are hardly recognizable. For example, their opening interpretation of “There Will Never be Another You” is highly entertaining, swings wildly, but I don’t hear the expected melody.  The trio has totally rearranged this familiar jazz tune by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren into a completely different composition.

Billy Lester began playing piano when he was four years old.  By the time he was fifteen, the developing pianist was making public appearances. His mentor was Sal Mosca, a piano teacher who encouraged him to improvise and develop his own individual style.  You will hear that type of spontaneous freedom in Lester’s performances.

On “Somebody Loves Me” I hear the melody of this old familiar standard briefly, but Billy Lester and his trio ‘stretch out’ quickly, reinventing the song in wonderful ways.

On Cole Porter’s “What Is This thing Called Love” I am captivated by the way the trio has arranged this song as a slow blues.  Marcello Testa is consistently dynamic on double bass.  He is the key that locks in with drummer, Nicola Stranieri. Together, they lay down a dynamic rhythm section, led by Billy Lester on the piano. They are a unique and complete package, swinging down a musical path in absolutely fresh and unexpected ways.

Lester’s piano playing is refreshing and technically impressive.  But it’s his amazing ability to take the chord changes of familiar tunes and turn them into fresh jazzy masterpieces right before our ears is impressive.  You’ll hear the trio reinvent familiar standards like Lover Come Back to Me, Just Friends, You Go to My Head, and I’ll Remember April.  I guarantee, you may not recognize these old standards.  This is one of the most innovative and creative albums I have heard this year. Billy Lester’s ideas are futuristic and inventive.  His style is his own and his musical partners are just as uninhibited and talented as Billy Lester himself. Fasten your seat belt!

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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