The teams from 2xHD Mastering and Jazzology Records bring us Derek Smith Trio Plays Jerome Kern. This tribute to the music of Jerome Kern could just as well have been titled “Smith Swings Kern”. Joined by Ronnie Bedford on drums and Linc Milliman on bass, pianist Derek Smith applies a light and lilting touch with Oscar Peterson-like energy to the playlist of 11 songs, six of which have alternate takes as well as the preferred one.
Tunes such as “The Way You Look Tonight“, “I’m Old Fashioned” and “I Won’t Dance” are given a glowing burnish here. Even on the tunes where the pace slows down a dash, there’s still a swinging swagger to them, such as “The Folks Who Live on the Hill“.
Derek Smith Trio
Derek Smith – Piano
Linc Milliman – Bass
Ronnie Bedford – Drums
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 00:42:40
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | 2XHDJA1172 |
| Qualities | DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, FLAC 192 kHz, FLAC 96 kHz |
| Channels | |
| Artists | Derek Smith, Derek Smith Trio, Linc Milliman, Ronnie Bedford |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Analog Recording Equipment | Nagra-T Tape Recorder |
| Cables | Siltech |
| Digital Converters | 2xHD Technologies Analog to DXD Converter |
| Editing Software | Pyramix, Merging Technologies |
| Mastering Engineer | René Laflamme, 2xHD Mastering – Analog Master Tape to DXD Transfer |
| Mastering Room | Nagra Audio HD DAC X – Compare Digital Transfers to Analog Master Tape |
| Instruments | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Producer | Gus P. Statiras |
| Recording Engineer | Fred Miller |
| Recording location | New York on March 27, 1980 |
| Recording Software | Pyramix, Merging Technologies |
| Recording Type & Bit Rate | Analog |
| Release Date | June 5, 2020 |
Press reviews
AllMusic
This album is a standout tribute to the music of Jerome Kern, who transformed American musical theater into something unique when he collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein II on the groundbreaking Show Boat. This production raised the musical form from little more than a floorshow of unrelated songs into true musical drama where the music was part and parcel of a cohesive story line.
Kern went on to join with many of the finest lyricists of American Popular Song. In addition to Hammerstein, there were Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, and some say his most successful collaborator, Dorothy Fields. Together these two wrote the music and lyrics for some of Fred Astaire’s most entertaining films.
This album has representative selections of Kern’s output with each of these illustrious partners. Joined by Ronnie Bedford on drums and Linc Milliman on bass, expatriate Englishman Derek Smith applies a light and lilting touch with Oscar Peterson-like energy to the play list.
In short, this title could just as well have been titled “Smith Swings Kern.” Tunes such as “The Way You Look Tonight,” “I’m Old Fashioned,” and “I Won’t Dance” are given a glowing burnish by Smith and his cohorts. Even on the tunes where his pace slows down a dash, there’s still a swinging swagger to them, such as “The Folks Who Live on the Hill.”
If your collection lacks an album featuring the compositions of Jerome Kern, you would be hard-pressed to find a more satisfying one than this.
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