Lewis was fascinated with counterpoint, Bach fugues and so on, and his solo piano playing is decorated with little borrowings of baroque. Lewis, it’s immediately more swinging and bluesy. Another level of piano artistry is apparent with Mr. “Lady Bird” is fine, but the slightly slower tempo of “Casbah” suits Jordan even better. There’s something about Jordan’s eighth note that feels a bit herky-jerky.
This short set brings out the Teddy Wilson side of his pianism. Like Haig, Jordan is not really a major stylist, although his fabulous tune “Jordu” is certainly immortal. A kind of uncharismatic blockiness dogs Haig’s blowing, but, still, a historically valuable set. “Salt Peanuts” is in E-flat might be the only time that happened (instead of the normal key of F). “Bebop” is given a bit of Tchaikovsky’s “Arab Dance” and Haig’s fingers are commendably fleet. Despite all those gigs with Bird, there remains something rather foursquare about Haig’s phrasing, he navigates the “Con Alma” changes in dismayingly literal fashion. “A Night In Tunisia” has some fire and “Con Alma” breaks into gentle stride and ends on a surprising minor chord. He’s late in career but his chops are up he also plays intros, interludes and endings, just like Dizzy would have wanted. Gillespie’s music for a solo pianist is monumental task and Haig does a fine job. He’s always solid but his work hasn’t stayed in my mind offhand I’d say the early trio set with Bill Crow and Lee Abrams might be his best record. As seen above, the cover art is unforgivable. The set perhaps promises more than it delivers, for almost all these artists can be heard better elsewhere, and the whole production is rather dull sounding (despite Stan Tonkel and CBS Record studios.) Renuad’s notes are enthusiastic and detailed. In 1978, French critic, promoter and enthusiast Henri Renuad assembled eight bebop pianists (all of whom played with Bird or Diz) tethered to seven bebop composers for a 2-LP survey. I Remember Bebop: Al Haig, Duke Jordan, John Lewis, Sadik Hakim, Walter Bishop, Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Rowles
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