Paolo Alderighi and Stephanie Trick • Classic Jazz On Two Pianos

Husband and wife pianists Paolo Alderighi and Stephanie Trick, have often toured and performed while sharing a single piano. While their four-handed concerts are quite enjoyable, lively, and often witty, their recent recording Classic Jazz On Two Pianos is even better. Not only do they have twice as many keys to play with when utilizing two pianos, but the potential is unlimited rather than being necessarily limited by logistics.

Rather than being a jam session, the arrangements provided by Alderighi infuse the playing on this CD with surprises, unexpected key and tempo changes, and plenty of variety. After starting with a rare instrumental version of Fats Waller’s “The Joint Is Jumpin’,” the two pianists explore songs associated with W.C. Handy, Jelly Roll Morton (including his fairly obscure “Why”), Duke Ellington, and Earl Hines plus such superior standards as “There’ll Be Some Changes Made,” “Fidgety Feet,” “On The Sunny Side Of The Street,” and “Tiger Rag.”

While many of the songs are familiar, the virtuosic playing (often at fast tempos), creative mixture of improvising with worked-out arranged sections, and the consistently joyful interplay will keep one at the edge of their seats. Classic Jazz On Two Pianos is an exciting set that certainly rewards repeated listenings.

Classic Jazz On Two Pianos
Paolo Alderighi and Stephanie Trick 
ATCD 007
www.trickalderighi.com

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.

Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.