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I like eating and drinking in a room where the ambiance includes a cocktail piano. Richard Whiteman's Album Solo Piano lets you have that ambiance wherever you may be. An elegant, urbane mix of fourteen slow-to-medium-tempo jazz and pop standards and a couple of original melodies tinkle in the light right-handed way of Teddy Wilson over bouncy, 8-to-the-bar-rythmn chords that convey the fun Whiteman obviously has when he plays.
A few numbers, particularly Whiteman's own "Nowhere in Particular" offer dissonances and unusual rythmns that provide a touch of thoughtfulness and depth to his work in this album that are challenging in the context of the overall agreeableness of tone. A good thing. And you don't have to be eating or drinking to listen. I played Solo Piano twice, on the road from Toronto to Montreal, and back. Good and better.
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