CD1
1. You’re The Top
2. All Through The Night
3. Medley: Easy To Love, Get Out Of Town, You’d
Be So Nice To Come Home To
4. I Concentrate On You
5. I’ve Got You Under My Skin
6. Down In The Depths On The 90th Floor
7. So In Love
8. Anything Goes
9. Let’s Do It
10. From This Moment On
11. What Is This Thing Called Love?
12. Do I Love You?
13. Night And Day
14. I Love Paris
15. Love For Sale
16. I Love You
17. All Of You
18. It’s All Right With Me
19. I Get A Kick Out Of You
20. Why Should I Care?
21. Just One Of Those Things
22. At Long Last Love
23. Begin The Beguine
24. Sorta Porter
CD2
1. The Song Is You
2. Long Ago (And Far Away)
3. Show Boat Medley: Bill, Can’t Help Lovin’
Dat Man, Make Believe, Ol’ Man River
4. In Love In Vain
5. Nobody Else But Me
6. The Folks Who Live On The Hill
7. All The Things You Are
8. Who?
9. Medley: A Fine Romance, Pick Yourself Up,
The Way You Look Tonight
10. The Last Time I Saw Paris
11. Remind Me
12. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
13. Medley: You Were Never Lovelier, Dearly
Beloved, They Didn’t Believe Me
14. Yesterdays
15. She Didn’t Say "Yes"
16. I Won’t Dance
17. I’m Old Fashioned
18. Jerome Alone
Ralph Sharon – Piano
Lennie Bush – Bass
Jack Parnell - Drums
This
is a double album on which the first CD is
devoted to the music of Cole Porter and the
second disc consists of compositions by Jerome
Kern, although the last track on each disc
was composed by pianist Ralph Sharon in tribute
to the two composers. The repertoire looks
attractive: mostly familiar tunes but with
some lesser-known items like Porter’s Down
in the Depths on the 90th Floor
(sung by Ethel Merman in the 1936 show Red,
Hot and Blue) and Kern’s Remind Me
(from the 1940 film One Night in the Tropics).
Ralph
Sharon is well-known as accompanist to Tony
Bennett, and they have done some dynamic work
together, but on this album Ralph plays almost
all the tunes at a slowish tempo, so gently
that they hardly make an impact. Perhaps the
fault lies in the low-level recording: the
drums are barely audible. The atmosphere is
more cocktail lounge than jazz club. This
understatement soon becomes monotonous, especially
as the trio mainly sticks to stating the melodies
and indulges in little improvisation.
Still,
it’s pleasant enough if you want relaxing
music for any occasion, and Avid has also
released The Magic of Gershwin and Rodgers
- another double CD by the same trio (AVC
862).
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Avid AVC
863
