Azica Records, Inc.
Product Review...

JAZZ Cadence

March 1999

Satisfaction

Azica Jazz AJD-72208

Bill Cunliffe, piano

A former student of Bill Dobbin's, Bill Cunliffe later had the pleasure of working with Buddy Rich and Frank Sinatra, and currently does piano duty in the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. This thoroughly enjoyable solo recital, apparently recorded over a three-year span at the Cleveland Museum of Art, works its magic in subtle ways. Cunliffe namechecks Garner, Tatum, Oscar, Nat and Teddy as his influences, and listeners who count the above among their favored pianists will be well pleased with the way he piles them into his car at his particular intersection. Unexpected accents, and skillful shifts in dynamics and harmony, are topped off with an obvious love for his chosen material. He swings "Chicken Shack" and "You And The Night And The Music" in the aristocratic fashion of his influences, and invests Rachmaninoff's "Adagio" with a flowing romanticism that tugs at the heart. There's a dazzling "I Want to Talk About You," a "Polka Dots" with delicate Tatum echoes, and two originals, the rich "Lost Weekend," and the moving, "To Ruth." Cunliffe is the kind of guy who tends to get referred to as "a pianist's piano player," and this supremely satisfying set shows why.

-- Larry Nai

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