Solo piano records are a risky deal. On the best of them, you can’t help but feel you know the artist a bit more deeply, and on the worst you hope never to meet them in a dark alley. Mike Wofford has the warm touch on the ivories that made him a supporter of the likes of Ella and Sassy as well as a sideman for mainstreamers such as Zoot Sims and Kenny Burrell, so you know he’s got a mainstreamers heart and hands. This collection has him mixing originals with arcane jazz covers, making the sound and feel both similar in that it’s got the wondrous bop touch, but fresh and new in that you really don’t already know the tunes, although you think you should.
A gentle swing on Jackie McLean’s “Little Melonae” has him prance through the open fields, while Gillespie’s “I Waited for You” is a gloriously undulating ballad that makes you scratch your head wondering why you’ve never picked up on it before. An avuncular reading of Ellington’s “The Eighth Veil” is taken at a leisurely clip, and his own tunes like “Cole Porter” and the title track have alluring themes and variations. You’re really going to like this guy and want to start digging deep in his catalogue. Is this the kind of guy Frishberg thought about on “I Want to be a Sideman?”
Capri Records