Alone With Three Giants
It's not unusual for contemporary musicians to record tributes to Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington, but Marcus Roberts showed some character on this 1990 session when he extended his reach to include the relatively neglected Jelly Roll Morton in this solo invocation of the three great pianist-composers of jazz. His strong feeling for the early jazz versions of the blues is apparent in the performances of Morton's "Jungle Blues" and "New Orleans Blues." The feeling carries over directly into the early Ellington classics like "Mood Indigo and "Black and Tan Fantasy." Roberts plays Monk with a keen sense of Monk's roots in early jazz piano music, apparent in "Trinkle Tinkle," and there's also a refreshing look at some neglected Ellington in "Shout 'Em, Aunt Tillie."--Stuart Broomer