Pianist Hank Jones is one of the few artists that even if you’re a die hard hater of jazz, you’re going to love him. You can blindfold select any of his albums, and it’s guaranteed to be a winner; they’re all bubbling over with the perfect mix of style, class and swing.
This album from 1983 with Mads Vinding/b and Hall of Fame drummer Shelly Manne/dr is a textbook concert of how to deliver bebop that is attractive, swinging and sophisticated. The bopping dna runs through his marrow. Hanks takes jazz standards such as Bud Powell’s “Budo” and Charlie Parker’s “Scrapple From the Apple” (with a dash of “Oleo” thrown in) and shows the difference between learning the music and living it, as these pieces mix elegance and energy. Vinding adds some stylish solos throughout as on “Just Friends” and Manne uses the brushes like a Fuller Brush salesman on the well groomed “Alone Together.” The team cruises like a V8 Caddie on “What’s New” and “Tangerine” while making the fingers snap on “It Could Happen to You.” Hank Jones plays like he invented the music; wait a minute, he did!!!