It’s not hard to pinpoint the classic pianists that Ben Waltzer respects-Ellington, Herbie Nichols, Monk, Wynton Kelly, among them-which is just to note that he has great taste. Waltzer has assimilated his influences and comes out with a sure identity of his own on One Hundred Dreams Ago (Fresh Sound New Talent). The opening punch of the first four tunes-all Waltzer originals-also announces his knack for crafting melodies that warrant repeated listens: “Time and I” sounds like a lost Nichols gem, while the waltz ballad “Smeenus Smiles” has a lilt that brings to mind Randy Weston’s triple-time masterpieces. That Strayhorn’s “U.M.M.G.” and Ellington’s title track sit so well alongside Waltzer’s own compositions is testament to the album’s consistency of tone as well as Waltzer’s artistic worth. The limber contributions of bassist Matt Penman and drummer Gerald Cleaver aren’t to be overlooked either.
Originally PublishedRelated Posts
Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Backwater Blues
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading

Jonathan Butler: The Simple Life
Jonathan Butler’s optimistic music belies a dirt-poor childhood growing up in a South Africa segregated by apartheid. Live in South Africa, a new CD and DVD package, presents a sense of the resulting inner turmoil, mixed with dogged resolve, that paved the way to his status as an icon in his country and successful musician outside of it. Looking back, the 46-year-old Butler says today, the driving forces that led to his overcoming apartheid-the formal policy of racial separation and economic discrimination finally dismantled in 1993-were family, faith and abundant talent.
“When we were kids, our parents never talked about the ANC [African National Congress] or Nelson Mandela,” he says. Butler was raised as the youngest child in a large family. They lived in a house patched together by corrugated tin and cardboard, in the “coloreds only” township of Athlone near Cape Town. “They never talked about struggles so we never knew what was happening.”
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading

Scott LaFaro
Previously unavailable recordings and a new bio illuminate the legend of bassist Scott LaFaro
Kurt Elling: Man in the Air
Nate Chinen makes the argument that Kurt Elling is the most influential jazz vocalist of our time