Solo piano albums require real skills from the improvising
artist to keep the listeners‘ ears glued to the music. The
musical history of solo piano recordings is long and rich,
and contains much emotionally compelling music. The
demonstration is here. Bill O’Connell is woefully under-
recorded as a solo artist, given that he has been the first-call
pianist for names like Mongo Santamaria, Sonny Rollins,
Gato Barbieri and Jerry González’s Fort Apache Band, to
name but a few. On this CD, recorded in a beautiful-sounding
concert venue in Westchester county, NY he plays his own
compositions with some covers of the standards „The Song is
You“, „It Could Happen to You“ and „Afro Blue“. O’Connell’s
playing is very satisfying, not ostentatious or prone to dramatic
effects, but is focused on careful development and further
expansion of initial ideas.
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