It’s fitting and proper that Alan Broadbent is recorded on this disc performing at a concert hall for the Classic Piano store in Portland, OR, as if he is the guy that you want if you want to know how a piano is supposed to sound when all alone and unprotected by bass, drums and horns. The audience gets a load of grand piano salesmanship during the 60+ minutes presentation by with Broadbent, who’s done it all as an arranger, composer and band leader in his own right. Here, he takes some jazz standards and originals and lets you enter into his wonderful world of taste, style and charm. He makes the piano go through the whole gamut of sounds, feelings and styles, mixing stride with modern on has his left hand does spidery crawls on “Hello My Lovely.” Hints of Body and Soul” are on digital ectomorphic passionate romanticism on “Heart to Heart” while “Blue In Green” has subterranean percolation like the La Brea Tar Pits.His use of space as a sound is reminiscent of the best impressionistic painters as he delivers a Monet of an “Alone Together” and letting the shadows fall on the wheat fields on a deeply ruminating “Lonely Woman.” Yes, he’s got technique and assertiveness as well, as he delivers a closing “Cherokee” with Bud Powellian authority mixed with David Niven’s suaveness, but what you come away with here is simply complete authority over 88 pieces of ivory with the ability to tell a story with them. Outstanding!
Chilly Bin Records