- Comedy Tonight
- Bags-A Tribute
- Lullaby of the Leaves
- I Hear a Rhapsody
- You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To
- Send in the Clowns
- In the Blue of the Evening
- All Blues
- Comes Autumn
- Embraceable You
- How Deep is the Ocean
- Alone Together
- Everything I Love
Sir Roland Hanna - Steinway Grand Piano
Unlike the ‘Kings’ and ‘Dukes’ of jazz Roland
Hanna’s title is a real one, awarded by the
Liberian Government in 1969, for a series
of concerts he gave to provide money for humanitarian
relief.
Roland is my kind of pianist, he has absorbed
much of the developments of contemporary jazz,
without losing touch with the roots of our
great music. The fact that he was able to
hold down the piano chair in the Thad Jones-Mel
Lewis Band, is a testament to his musical
ability. Only a few of their arrangements
have ever been published, but most bands have
found them very demanding. Roland took all
that in his stride and was also one of the
band’s outstanding soloists.
It is also a great pleasure to hear a quality
acoustic piano, well recorded and played by
someone with a total grasp of what can be
achieved on such an instrument. Roland has
a unique style, he is not trying to do an
imitation of Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson or
anyone else, he delivers the songs the way
he feels them.
The tune selection is inspired, I have never
heard a jazz performance of Comedy Tonight,
Sondheim’s opening theme from ‘A Funny Thing
Happened on the Way to the Forum’, in Roland’s
hands it sounds a natural jazzer. Bags-A Tribute
is of course a celebration of the music of
the late Milt Jackson, who was a great friend.
I enjoyed every track because instead of trying
to dazzle us with his superb technique Roland
plays wonderful two handed piano. Many jazz
pianists only use the left hand to stab out
chords, but here the left hand is sometimes
‘comping’ for the right, sometimes playing
the bass line and sometimes the melody. Send
in the Clowns, Lullaby of the Leaves and Alone
Together are all good examples.
To adequately describe Sir Roland Hanna’s
style would be difficult, it is an amalgam
of everything that has gone before in jazz,
but it has a very modern feel. He plays one
original composition Comes Autumn, which demonstrates
his adequate capability in the area of composition,
but he does not fill the album up with tunes
that are not in the same class as the ‘standard’
jazz library.
This is a fine solo performance on an excellent
instrument, properly recorded and I strongly
recommend it as an addition to anyone’s collection.
Don Mather
CD Reviews
Ipo IPOC 1002
