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Columbia Records CL 867
I'll
Remember April
Lullaby of the Leaves
Lover
Hello, Young Lovers
I'll Take Romance
Someone to Watch Over Me |
This Nearly
Was Mine
Can I Forget You
Right As the Rain
Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'!
Pavanne
Fascinatin' Rhythm |
The gladsome and uniquely agreeable sounds in this collection are confected by The Norman
Paris trio, a blend of the musical taste and talents of the leader at the piano, Frank
Cerchia on guitar and Ed Arndt on bass. As the fortunate habitues of Le Ruban Bleu in New
York long ago discovered, this small group can invest familiar melodies with more
unfamiliar and surprising twists than any similar organization around. After a spell of
playing at various hotels and lounges around the country, the Trio came to rest at Le
Ruban Bleu some years back, and has been brightening the midnight and early morning air of
that east side haven with music decidedly outside the bounds of conventional conversation
music ever since, in addition to accompanying a variety of singers during their
engagements.
The attentive listener will discover that Norman Paris is a pianist whose technique is
expended on tone and touch rather than flash. The discovery will also be made that far
more can come from an electric guitar than the mournful twang of the hillbilly
manipulators. Frank Cerchia, by a remarkable arrangement of amplifiers, produces some
strangely beautiful and lambent sounds, and the fancies of the piano and the guitar are
bound into a formal whole by the thoughtful bass of Ed Arndt.
This collection of their delightful music has
been chosen largely from the showtune catalog, and the Trio proceeds to make virtually new
creations of old favorites and to add a remarkable sheen to the newer ones. Playing with
extraordinary sensitivity to each other, they maintain precision and a crisp incisiveness
through a succession of rubati and harmonic shifts that might give other groups
considerable pause. Music-making of the creative school is always rare, but here is the
building of music on a charming tune that is engrossing from any point of view.
The program opens with I'll Remember April, a sort of musicians' song that
enjoys great favor among professionals and a small group of ardent aficionados. Next comes
a charmingly conceived presentation of Lullaby of the Leaves, and a rippling
treatment of the Richard Rodgers waltz Lover. Continuing with another Rodgers
waltz, from "The King and I," they play Hello, Young Lovers in a
sentimental and lyric setting. I'll Take Romance follows a lilting waltz pattern
with a delicate interplay of piano and guitar figures, and in the Gershwin Someone to
Watch Orer Me, a more reflective tempo is used to emphasize the wistful quality of the
enduring melody.
Yet another Rodgers waltz, This Nearly Was Mine from "South Pacific,"
once more demonstrates the Trio's thoroughly individual approach to a number with rubati,
shading and an effective use of understatement contributing to the mood. Jerome Kern's Can
I Forget You begins with a gentle sentiment, builds to a climax and fades back to the
quiet reverie of its opening bars. Harold Arlen's Right As the Rain follows in a
delightfully characteristic treatment, and a final Rodgers waltz, Oh, What a Beautiful
Mornin' is played in a setting that emphasizes its sunny charm. (Rodgers is a clear
favorite with the Trio, as are his lovely waltzes.) Morton Gould's saucy Pavanne
demonstrates the intricacies the Trio sets up for itself, and the program concludes with
the Gershwin Fascinatin' Rhythm in an antic mood. |
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