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Music CD - Steve Kuhn Trio: Live at Birdland
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Music CD: Live at Birdland
Artist: Steve Kuhn Trio
List Price: $17.98
Our Price: $12.86
Your Save: $ 5.12 ( 28% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Blue Note Records
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Tracks:
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1. If I Were A Bell
2. Jitterbug Waltz
3. Two By Two
4. La Plus Que Lente/Passion Flower
5. Little Waltz
6. Lotus Blossom
7. Stella By Starlight
8. Slow Hot Wind
9. Clotilde
10. Confirmation
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0094637299227
Format: Live
Label: Blue Note Records
Manufacturer: Blue Note Records
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Blue Note Records
Release Date: 2007-02-20
Studio: Blue Note Records
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: a nice evening out
Comment: a light deft touch marks kuhn's style. had me thinking of art tatum and oscar peterson. if i were a bell reminded me of miles' rendition on relaxin' with miles. some other jazz standards, a selection written by kenny dorham, trumpeter, two kuhn originals. one of my favorites, jitterbug waltz by fats waller, has me regretful i was not at birdland the night this was recorded, what a nice night that must had been. and you can't go wrong with al foster and ron carter, little waltz written by carter. a theme of music and flowers, two waltzes, a passion flower and a lotus blossom, in starlight, a slow hot wind blowing. this could be a presumptuous picture in other hands, kuhn, nicely, carries it off.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very Appealing Live Trio Set
Comment: The 10 tracks were selected by Kuhn as the best from a four-night run at Birdland. The pianist rented a Hamburg-D Steinway (his favorite) for the occasion, and makes it sparkle. As others have indicated, audio quality is outstanding, making you feel like you're sitting in the club. I probably own close to 50 CDs with Ron Carter on bass, but I've never heard him as clearly as on this recording. The music is spontaneous and inventive, and should please just about anyone. Great playing all around by these 3 classy veterans; Kuhn's virtuosity peaks on the final cut --Charlie Parker's Confirmation, a most appropriate selection for this venue.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best CD I've bought this year.
Comment: Great album! It is rare to have such musical genius and recording excellence combine on one CD. Steve Kuhn sounds like - Steve Kuhn and nobody else. Teamed with Ron Carter and Al Foster, the trio creates wonderful chemistry on the best-engineered live performance you will ever hear. Katherine Miller is credited with recording, mixing and mastering the album. If this is an example of her expertise, I am going to start looking for her name in album credits like I used to look for Rudy Van Gelder.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hail the Return of the Great Steve Kuhn Trio
Comment: On the 20th anniversary of their 1986 recording at the Village vanguard, the Steve Kuhn trio (featuring Ron Carter on bass and Al Foster on drums) reconvenes for two glorious nights of traditional AND adventurous jazz at Birdland. Like its predecedssor, the sessions are marked first and foremost by Kuhn's incredibly rich and distinctive tone. The Big-Ben theme that opens the first tune, "If I Were a Bell," establishes the sound right away. And like the 1986 date, the interplay between the three players is dazzling--and seemlingly effortless.
But "Live at Birdland" is not a mere re-do. If, at the time, the Village Vanguard sessions proved a high-water mark for the pianist's career, he proceeded to follow it up with an uninterrupted flow of excellent live and studio recordings that showed him stretching his vocabulary and developing his prowess in ways one had previously not expected from him. "Live at Birdland" is a masterful culmination of such experiments. He has more confidence than ever before, which enables him to solo more effectively.
"Jitterbug Waltz" was a highlight of the first record. It was a restrained, elegant classic that underwent a series of impressive tempo shifts without ever undergoing a change in mood. Here it acheives all this plus more: in the opening solo Kuhn states the theme more fully. The trio then treat it to a number of variations and tempo shifts. At roughly the seven-minute mark, there is a terribly exciting kick into another gear for several minutes, which then cools down into the closing section.
There are inevitable comparisons between the two recordings, since Kuhn decides to use a handful of the same tunes for each. Thankfully, this decision is not repetitious. And, when Kuhn does introduce new material, it startles. The final tune, a driving rendition of Parker's "Confirmation," will leave you breathless.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Solid and Stylish
Comment: If this isn't my very favorite Steve Kuhn album, it's still very stylish, creative and lovely. It's nice to hear these vets together in live setting and Kuhn remains one of the best unheralded players. I
would still go first for his trio albums with David Finck and Billy Drummond (mostly on Reservoir I think), or some of the ECM titles for their 'experimentalism.' This one shows another side though. Very fine stuff.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Even though he accompanied any number of legends during the late 1950s and '60s, Steve Kuhn doesn't have the name recognition of other jazz artists who came of age during that period. But few pianists have maintained as high a standard as he has in the mainstream trio setting. Live at Birdland, which occasions the reunion of one of his best threesomes--the bassist is Ron Carter, the drummer Al Foster, both Miles Davis alumni--is one of his most consistently engaging albums. A keen intelligence and lively wit is at work on this tuneful terrain, which ranges from the shifting tempos and tones of "Jitterbug Waltz" to the luminous reflection of Carter's "Little Waltz" (which the bassist graces with a lovely solo) to the lovely intersection between Billy Strayhorn's "Passion Flower" and a Debussy waltz, "La Plus Que Lente." There's a romping aspect to the set as well: In his late 60s, Kuhn has lost nothing in speed or agility, rendering Kenny Dorham's "Lotus Blossom" with light-fingered brilliance. If another pianist hadn't stolen the "State of the Art" tag, he certainly could hang out that shingle on this album, one of the most enjoyable in this vein in quite some time. --Lloyd Sachs
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