After a busy few weeks, I'm catching up on my usual haunts for free music, and one of Amazon's latest selections caught my eye - and my ear. Beegie Adair was something of a known quantity to me, since she was born in the Kentucky county immediately adjacent to where I spent my youth; I'd heard her play numerous times at her alma mater, Western Kentucky University. This collection, however, was a pleasant surprise, in that the arrangements of standards from other genres are so well suited to Adair's style at the keyboard. All too often, performers seem to strain to "fit" a tune into their style, but Adair's arrangements play off her style without compromising the original melodies. I was particularly taken with her performance of They Didn't Believe Me.The "friends" mentioned in the title come from the Nashville music community (which is to be expected, since Adair is on the faculty of the Nashville Jazz Workshop), and their contributions to the album are well done. I particularly enjoyed Sam Levine's Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home and Leif Shires' rendition of Scarborough Fair. Jack Jezzro does a fine turn with Shine On Harvest Moon as well.
In short: it's jazz, it's good, and it's free. Grab it while you can.
Amazon.com: Green Hill Jazz Sampler: Beegie Adair & Friends: MP3 Downloads
No comments:
Post a Comment