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Don Friedman

From A to Z

ACT 9755-2

Dedicated to pianist Don Friedman's erstwhile bandmate, Hungarian guitarist Attila Zoller (hence the 'A to Z' of the title; cf. another Friedman album, 1999's Attila's Dreams on Ephemeris), this solo-piano recording begins with four Zoller tunes that encapsulate their composer's great strengths: tuneful eloquence, an ear for subtly affecting melodies and an ability to infuse same with rhythmic tension.

Friedman, however, never allows the obvious respect and affection in which he holds them to stifle his own creativity, bringing all his prodigious pianistic gifts to his playing but neither over-egging the pudding emotionally nor allowing his naturally florid style to shade into showy grandiloquence.

For the rest, a standard (Cole Porter's 'I Concentrate on You', given a suitably earnestly dramatic reading), a Monk tune (a broken-stride visit to 'Ask Me Now') and five originals (ranging from vigorous workouts featuring rumbling, growling left-hand figures, to tender valedictory ballads), Friedman showcases a virtuosic but pleasingly unshowy technique which is always placed at the service of his music, as all his many fine albums on Steeplechase demonstrate.