ALAN BROADBENT — You and the Night and the Music (2003) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The two-time Grammy winning arranger (for Natalie Cole and Charlie Haden featuring Shirley Horn) is used to working with big band charts and multi-harmonic orchestral arrangements, but at heart he's a pianist with a great love for standards and all things jazz. The idea on this beautiful trio date is to go small, strip down to the basics of seven classics and see what he -- long a believer in the often unpredictable joys of improvisation -- can do with the swinging help of bassist Brian Bromberg and drummer Joe La Barbera. For those who love piano trio music, the answer is, quite a lot. The tunes range in time from six-and-a-half to nine minutes, plenty of time to have intricate emotional conversations that dash on unexpected journeys. The title track starts out like a ballad, but within minutes becomes a spirited, jaunty stroll with rushes of flurried ivories keeping pace above the brushes and Bromberg's cool throb. They play "I Wish I Knew" a little simpler, as a graceful romance, but pick up the pace with the odd locomotive meters and snappy basslines of "With the Wind and the Rain in Her Hair." "What's New" begins with a low register cadenza underpinning some wild upper register movement before settling into a tender, reflective pocket. It's beautifully played, but the most remarkable feature is the choice of material which draws more obscure selections from familiar names. All the more open palette for the trio to play with. Jonathan Widran     Tracklist & Credits :

ALAN BROADBENT — 'Round Midnight (2004) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Long considered a very valuable pianist, arranger, and conductor behind the scenes, whether accompanying singers (including his classic recordings with Irene Kral) or as part of bands (most notably Charlie Haden's Quartet West), Alan Broadbent tends to be underrated as a pianist/leader. In the Los Angeles area he occasionally performs in clubs where his trio work is quite spontaneous. For 'Round Midnight, he simply gathered together two of his favorite players (bassist Brian Bromberg and drummer Joe LaBarbera), decided on a list of tunes (including two of his originals), and played. Although the results are quite logical, nothing was arranged in advance. It just worked out this perfectly on a moment's notice. Whether swinging on bebop standards, digging into J.J. Johnson's "Lament," or transforming "Serenata" into jazz, everything works well on this easily recommended trio outing. Scott Yanow    Tracklist & Credits :

ALAN BROADBENT — Every Time I Think of You (2006) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Alan Broadbent has long been appreciated as a fine pianist and arranger, talents he combines on this studio effort with bassist Brian Bromberg and drummer Kendall Kay, along with background color by the Tokyo Strings. "Autumn Variations" is a superb workout of the chord changes to the standard "Autumn Leaves." The pianist's lyrical setting of the longing ballad "Bess, Oh Where's My Bess" and the sparse treatment of "Last Night When We Were Young" are simply masterful. Broadbent's scoring of notable jazz compositions proves to be equally effective. He sets up a very deliberate tempo for the ballad "Lover Man," alternating the piano and the strings in the foreground as the rhythm section plays sparingly. But his best effort may be his lush arrangement of the modal masterpiece "Blue in Green." Broadbent also includes three strong originals: "E. 32nd Elegy" (a moody tribute to Lennie Tristano), the breezy Latin-flavored "Nirvana Blues," and an affectionate ballad salute to his late boss Woody Herman called "Woody 'N' Me," which suggests the end of another long night as the weary musicians pile into the bus to hit the road to the next gig. Impeccably recorded and mixed, Alan Broadbent's Every Time I Think of You is the perfect CD for unwinding at the end of a long, demanding day. Ken Dryden    Tracklist & Credits :