These two versions of Nat Cole playing Tea For Two are just wonderful! Both versions demonstrate his perfect combination of so many elements of a great jazz performance. Start with a wonderful song, then add a rhapsodic intro with cool jazz harmonies, then comes the exciting jump rhythm for the body of the tune (dig how he sets the tempo with right hand within one measure - with no count off neccessary - just go), a restatement of the first part of the melody which morphes into his awesome improvised solo, a bunch of easy piano tricks followed by Nats pianistic virtuosity (all played very casually and with a close ear on the rhythm section), simplicity followed by complexity, all official jazz vocabulary (including a quotes from A Foggy Day and Rhapsody In Blue), repeated riffs, shouty ensemble piano figures, lots of right hand melody with no left hand chords (Melody is King), then lots of cool left hand stuff, good taste (he never plays too much ... or too little), loads of smiles and fun, all rolled into a very entertaining presentation! What else do you hear? youtube/watch?v=OCEcDhF2LSo#t=148
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 15:45:21 +0000
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