Live at Blues Alley: First Set

Live at Blues Alley: First Set Artist: Hod O'Brien
Label: Reservoir Records
Category: Music



Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Format: Live
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 747985018025
EAN: 0747985018025
ASIN: B0007RTAFC


Release Date: 2005-03-22

Related Categories:

Bebop General Bebop General
Related | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music
General General
Related | Jazz | Styles | Music
General General
Related | Pop | Styles | Music
General General
Related | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music
Hard Bop Hard Bop
Related | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

Tracks:

  1. Nothing Like You Has Ever Been Seen Before
  2. Frog's Legs
  3. Thespian
  4. It's Love
  5. Lullaby Of The Leaves
  6. Tangerine
  7. Bye Bye Blackbird
  8. Just In Time

Similar Items:

  1. Live at Blues Alley: Second Set
  2. Have Piano Will Swing
  3. Bill Charlap Plays George Gershwin
  4. Live in Paris
  5. 'Round Midnight

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Masterful BeBop Piano.......2006-03-27

Hod O'Brien is a masterful jazz pianist. His style is rooted in bebop and he borrows very little from later pianists such as Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner. Yet he easily displays the continuing vitality of the Bud Powell school. O'Brien is an individual stylist, who swings powerfully with long, flowing lines which capture and keep the listener's attention. O'Brien never uses his abundant technique to overwhelm the listener, but always to tell a heart-warming, uplifting musical story.

The music on this CD (and its companion - Second Set) was well recorded at Washington's D.C.'s Blues Alley club in the summer of 2004. The musicians playing with O'Brien here - Ray Drummond on bass and Kenny Washington on drums are masters in
their own right, and together they form a tight, responsive and supportive trio.

The opening "Nothing Like You" by Bob Dorough is a real swinger, as is "Tangerine", and the closing "Just in Time." Ray Drummond is well featured on a memorable reading of "Lullaby of the Leaves." Freddie Redd's "Thespian" begins as a reflective, gentle ballad before shifting gears into a hard-driving, uptempo romp. "Bye-Bye Blackbird" contains an lengthy and impressive block-chord solo by O'Brien. These are but a few highlights from a recording in which every track has a special appeal.

This excellent and highly enjoyable CD is recommended without reservation to lovers of jazz piano.

Music CD:

  1. Coltrane ~ John Coltrane
  2. Orange ~ Mario Pavone Nu Trio, Quintet
  3. South to a Warmer Place ~ Meredith d'Ambrosio
  4. Trio City 2 ~ Ron Surace
  5. Concord Jazz Festival: Live 1990 ~ Various Artists
  6. Solo[3] ~ Roscoe Mitchell
  7. Midwest Funk ~ Various Artists
  8. Kinetic Energy ~ Raz
  9. Complete ESP-Disk Recordings ~ Frank Wright
  10. Afterglow ~ Johnny Varro Swing 7

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

If I Could Change ~ Master P

Soon as I Get Home ~ Faith Evans

Levity (Score)

Chicago '85... The Movie ~ Dave Hollister

Seconds West ~ Alan Charing

Absolute ~ Neil Citron

Motorpsycho Presents...International Tussler Society ~ International Tussler Society

All About U ~ Usher

Dr. Dre Old School Quick Mixx ~ Various Artists

Ooh Wee/I Got That ~ Majic Massey