Influenced by Thelonious Monk and the laconic, almost conversational style of John Lewis, Randy Westons work on these mid-1950s solo, duo and trio sessions nevertheless marked him out as a pianist different from anyone else.
Grounded in bop, his playing has a compositional quality and sophistication that belie its deceptive simplicity. And he could stamp his personality on well-known material, subtly refracting its colours through the prism of a singular imagination; there are striking performances here of such as Lover and a remarkable If You Could See Me Now, while Cole Porter is treated with rare astringency, even on the playful I Get A Kick Out Of You. And the delicate probing of line, harmony, time and mood of Well Be Together Again rounded off with a whimsically upbeat little flouris his filled with the sense of an elusively original mind at work.
His influence in jazz, like his profile, should have been greater, but he was to move on to his ethnic musical roots in Africa, and further enrich his music.
Tracklist
Total time: 109:53 min.
CD 1
01. Get Out of Town (Porter) 4:29
02. I Get a Kick Out of You (Porter) 3:09
03. I Love You (Porter) 2:58
04. In the Still of the Night (Porter) 4:40
05. Just One of Those Things (Porter) 4:29
06. Night and Day (Porter) 3:35
07. What Is This Thing Called Love (Porter) 2:51
08. Ive Got You Under My Skin (Porter) 3:08
09. Sweet Sue (Harris-Young) 3:44
10. Pams Waltz (Weston) 3:43
11. Solemn Meditation (Sam Gill) 6:53
12. Again (Cochran-Newman) 5:04
13. Zulu (Weston) 3:27
14. If You Could See Me Now (Dameron-Sigman) 3:36
CD 2
01. Little Girl Blue (Hart-Rodgers) 3:56
02. Well Be Together Again (Fischer-Laine) 4:09
03. Softness (Weston) 4:25
04. Lover (Hart-Rodgers) 4:03
05. Get Happy (Arlen-Koehler) 3:43
06. Fire Down There (Traditional) 2:52
07. Where Are You? (Adams-McHugh) 4:09
08. Under Blunder (Weston) 3:07
09. Dark Eyes (aka Otchitchornyia) (M. Salama) 3:35
10. Summertime (G. & I. Gershwin-Heyward) 3:57
11. Bass Knows (Weston) 5:17
12. C-Jam Blues (Ellington) 2:51
13. A Ballad (Gill) 4:19
14. Twelfth Street Rag (Razaf-Bowman) 2:59
Album details
Sources:
CD 1, tracks #11-8 from the Riverside album
Cole Porter in a Modern Mood (RLP 2508 10-inch)
CD 1, tracks #9-14 from the Riverside album
The Randy Weston Trio (RLP 2515 10-inch)
CD 2, tracks #1-4 from the Riverside album
Randy Weston Trio and Solo (RLP 12-227)
(*) Which also includes the tracks of the 10" RLP 2515
CD 2, tracks #5-14 from the Riverside album
Get Happy (RLP 12-203)
Personnel on Cole Porter in a Modern Mood :
Randy Weston (p), Sam Gill (b).
Recorded in New York City, on April 27, 1954
Personnel on The Randy Weston Trio :
Randy Weston (p), Sam Gill (b, out on #14), Art Blakey (d, out on #14)
Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, on January 25, 1955
Personnel on Randy Weston Trio and Solo #1-4 :
Randy Weston (piano solo)
Recorded in New York City, on September 10, 1956
Personnel on Get Happy :
Randy Weston (p), Sam Gill (b), Wilbert Granville T. Hogan (d)
Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, on August 29 & 31, 1955
Original recordings produced by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer
Compiled for CD release by Jordi Pujol
24-Bit Digitally Remastered
