Don Friedman

A Day in the City + Six Variations + Circle Waltz (FSRCD 760)

A Day in the City + Six Variations + Circle Waltz View larger

A Day in the City + Six Variations + Circle Waltz

Don Friedman

Fresh Sound Records

8427328607605

ABS 137252

FSRCD 760

JAZZ

1

A Day in the City + Six Variations + Circle Waltz

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CD 11,99 €

2 LPs ON 1 CD

After an early period as a sideman in Los Angeles, in early 1960 Don Friedman moved to NYC, where he soon revealed himself as a pianist of extraordinary originality, and a thoroughly schooled musician of modern compositional persuasion. Ample proof of this is on Friedman’s first two albums for Riverside A Day in the City and Circle Waltz – where his playing has a similarly generous and lyric charm as Bill Evans’, albeit with a more angular, fragmented style than Evans’ limpid, flowing one.
A Day in the City is an altogether brilliant achievement in both conception and execution. The music is descriptive and evocative of the varying moods of city life suggested by the six subsidiary titles, each of them characterized by a specific rhythm feeling. Circle Waltz reinforced the impression of him as a composer and improviser of impeccable taste, warmth, and quiet, controlled power. And though he can swing hard, as in Sea’s Breeze, his most successfully personal mood is in the more lyrical vein of Loves Parting. Noteworthy, too, is the valuable work of his sidemen; Chuck Israels is a strong guiding force in the rhythm section, and Joe Hunt or Pete La Roca contribute consistently to the undoubted success of both albums.

PERSONNEL:


(1-6) from the album A Day in the City - Six Jazz Variations on a Theme (Riverside RLP-9384
DON FRIEDMAN, piano
CHUCK ISRAELS, bass
JOE HUNT, drums
Recorded at Bell Sound Studios, New York City, June 12, 1961

(7-13) from the album Circle Waltz (Riverside RLP-9431)
Same personnel as above, but PETE LA ROCA (drums), replaces Joe Hunt.
(12) unaccompanied piano solo
Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, May 14, 1962

TRACKS:

01 Dawn
02 Midday
03 Rush Hour
04 Sunset
05 Early Evening
06 Night
07 Circle Waltz
08 Sea’s Breeze
09 I Hear a Rhapsody
10 In Your Own Sweet Way
11 Loves Parting
12 So In Love
13 Modes Pivoting