Reminiscing
is an appropriate title for this 2000 session, which finds
Jodie Christian
doing exactly that -- reminiscing and looking back on his long career in music. Born in 1932, the Chicago-based pianist was in his late sixties when he recorded this
hard bop
/
post-bop
CD; the songs he selects are ones that meant a lot to him along the way. And in the liner notes,
Christian
explains why particular songs are important to him. He says that
George & Ira Gershwin
's
"Embraceable You"
was the first
standard
that he ever learned, and that
Antonio Carlos Jobim
"How Insensitive"
became a part of his repertoire after he heard fellow pianist
Ahmad Jamal
playing the Brazilian gem.
"Morning Star"
is a song that
learned from vibist
Emmanuel Cranshaw
, while
"Love Walked In"
and
"It's Good to Have You Near"
are songs that he discovered on
Andre Previn
Right Is the Rain
LP. It's important to stress that even though
(who is joined by bassist
Dennis Carroll
and drummer
Tony Walton
) acknowledges various musicians that he admired along the way, he never goes out of his way to emulate any of them. The pianist always sounds like his own man, which means that he doesn't play
exactly like
Jamal
or
Previn
.
's interpretation of
"How Insensitive,"
in fact, is quite unusual -- a melancholy
that is usually played at a slow or medium tempo becomes fast and exuberant in
's swinging hands.
is a musical autobiography that the Chicagoan can easily be proud of. ~ Alex Henderson