Gershwin: We got Rhythm - A Gershwin Songbook
While Gershwin gets top billing here, Previn's the one commanding center stage with his most striking jazz outing since returning to the idiom. His ingenuous arrangements, for one, have acquired organic urgency, such as the elemental "Bartok-boogie" treatment of "They All Laughed," or the quirky recasting of "I Got Rhythm." Light-fingered Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson passages take unexpected, asymmetrical detours fraught with risk. Each selection rings out with unfettered interplay and a genuine joy in discovery. Previn and Finck anticipate and play off each other's ideas like a team of well-rehearsed pickpockets. When you buy this disc, hold onto your wallet!--Jed Distler