PETER BEETS — Chopin Meets The Blues (review)

PETER BEETS — Chopin Meets The Blues album cover Album · 2010 · Third Stream Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
idlero
Neither much Chopin, nor much blues, but plenty of great swinging jazz. Peter Beets is an acclaimed Dutch jazz pianist who has already done a program around Bach's music called "From Bach to Blues". At a festival dedicated to Chopin in Hague, Peter Beets was asked to play in the foyer as kind of background bar pianist.He refused but instead asked to play Chopin improvisations in one of the halls.His concert entitled 'Chopin Meets The Blues' was a great success and so the idea for this album was born. Chopin's music provides only the starting point for Peter Beets improvisations.Eight rather slow tempo Chopin compositions turn into eight fast tempo swing(a la Oscar Peterson who is one of Peter Beets's heroes) mprovisations in which Chopin's music is sometimes barely recognizable ( not that this should trouble anyone). The Peter Beets Quartet features beside Peter Beets, Joe Cohn( son of tenor sax player Al Cohn) on guitar, Reuben Rogers on double bass and Greg Hutchinson on drums . Why "Chopin meets The Blues" ? Because, according to Peter Beets "....I purposely avoided the word "jazz" itself, because that word tends to turn many people off"??? Does 'Chopin Meets The Blues' sound more attractive than 'Chopin Meets Jazz'? I don't know. Anyway, a very good album, highly enjoyable.
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