Up is Down

He's been playing that pleasant but basically insipid cocktaily style of jazz piano for many, many years. The original "hook" was that he was a classical musician who was reasonably fluent in a jazz idiom. That doesn't seem quite as striking today as it is might have been when jazz/classical crossovers still seemed fresh. Late 50s?

I understand the desire for REAL music to be on NPR, but when it comes to indie rock and such, they actually have pretty good taste. Hey, I even heard the Boredoms as their "between segments" music once, not that anyone knows who they are. And that's my point.

As to "classical".... yeah, I'm with you.

A network they call NPR
Aesthetically lowers the bar.
What they say has pizzazz
Is just old cocktail jazz.
"So what?" they say, "Previn's a star!"

Well what is so bad about cocktails?
We've all had our wee two o'clock tales.
And is it correct
From NPR to expect
Much better than aesthetic mock tales?

KG replies: John, you've outdone yourself. I am humbled.

Wow, I didn't know Previn was still recording jazz albums. Last I heard, he had declared that jazz was no longer an important part of his life, or some such...

Disclaimer: I own a remastered CD version of his old "My Fair Lady" trio recording, and it's pretty good, though the Horace Silver and (especially) Oscar Peterson influences are rather strong.