Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz

Jazz
Alliance

When
I’m on the road, I feel especially lucky if I find a radio station carrying
Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz. For
25 years, McPartland has hosted one of the most engaging shows on the airwaves,
interviewing and playing spontaneous duets with jazz greats. Her personality is
so engaging that her guests feel completely at ease reminiscing about their
careers. I recently had the perfect ride: four Piano Jazz shows back to back.

            Jazz Alliance has re-released some
of the best McPartland shows ever recorded, featuring Bill Evans and Oscar
Peterson (both 1978), Carmen McRae (1985), and Chick Corea (2001). Listening to
these broadcasts is like hearing top-notch oral history with musical examples
thrown in. As John McDonough points out in liner notes to the McPartland/Corea
album, because of her extraordinary musicianship, McPartland is the rare
interviewer who knows her subjects from the inside.

            There are so many great moments on
these CDs, it’s tough to select a few. While Evans reveals a soft-spoken
personality matching the nuances of his music, Peterson’s vibrant spirit
carries through to his keyboard pyrotechnics. With fellow pianists Evans,
Peterson, and Corea, McPartland can’t hide her admiration. In fact, she knows
Evans’ albums better than he does.

            The musicians’ conversations are
touching, funny, and illuminating. McRae reveals that she made demos of songs
by Irene Kitchings (Teddy Wilson’s wife) for Billie Holiday. Evans talks about
his early years: “I used to be the fastest boogie-woogie player in Central New
Jersey.” Peterson describes jokes he played on Ray Brown and George Shearing.
McRae is so warm and chatty, listeners may feel like they are in a living room
eavesdropping on two friends exchanging songs and memories.

            The playing and singing is wonderful
throughout. Peterson plays breathtaking solo renditions of “Old Folks,” “Body
and Soul,” and his own “Place St. Henri.” Corea is wonderful on “Brasilia” and
“Monk’s Mood.” And Evans becomes a teacher, explaining his technical and
aesthetic innovations on “All of You” and “Waltz for Debby.”

            McRae sings duets with McPartland,
but it’s her “Monkish” piano playing on tunes like “As Time Goes By” that may
surprise listeners. McPartland plays a beautiful “Falling in Love with Love”
with Peterson and a daring, key-changing “Days of Wine and Roses” with Evans.
After a free-improvisation duet with Corea, on which McPartland strums the
strings inside the piano, Corea sums it up: “Marion, you’re really out!”

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This article appears in Dec 18-24, 2002.