Pianist Emmet Cohen examines the wide world of stride piano in a plethora of styles and settings on this enjoyable album with a core unit of Cohen with bassist Russell Hall, and drummer Kyle Poole as well as guests Melissa Aldana on tenor sax and Marquis Hill on trumpet.
Cohen even gives a bit of a pre-swing duet with Hall, making Duke Ellington’s famed duet with bassist Jimmy Blanton (“Pitter Panther Patter”) sounding like it came from an earlier generation. He gives some old world ragtime trio reads of “Symphonic Raps” and a stately 1919 “Dardanella” as well as a Tin Pan Alley “My Heart Stood Still”. He’s gorgeously teamed with Hill on a ebullient “Little Angel” and bops well in a quintet setting on “Toast To Lo” while going in rapid fire double time with the team on a bopping “You Already Know”. The dreamy “Reflections at dusk have the horns at their mistiest while the trio’d title track is a Fats Waller fantasy. Pick your generation-the hands will fit in!