Dick Hyman Plays Duke Ellington

by Scott YanowPerformed (as was Dick Hyman's previous Fats Waller project) on a Bosendorfer Reproducing Piano and actually recorded from the piano at a later date (one really cannot tell the difference), this outing finds the great Hyman interpreting 14 of Duke Ellington's compositions. Most intriguing are Ellington's nearly atonal "The Clothed Woman" and "Tonk" in which Hyman somehow duplicates an Ellington-Billy Strayhorn piano duet! Other highlights include the joyous "Drop Me Off In Harlem," "Doin' the Voom Voom," "Echoes of Harlem" and "The Gal from Joe's." The recording is as rewarding as one would expect.