Live At The Village Vanguard

They Say...

Review by Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

Bruce Barth has a reputation for being one of the more singer-friendly jazz pianists on the East Coast. Some jazz instrumentalists can be very myopic when it comes to singers; they go out of their way to avoid them. But Barth has been good about accompanying singers, which is why everyone from Kevin Mahogany to LaVerne Butler to Dominique Eade has employed him as a sideman. Nonetheless, Barth is primarily an instrumentalist, and this CD is among the releases that finds him in a leadership role instead of an accompanist role. Recorded live at New York's famous Village Vanguard in August 2002, this post-bop/hard bop disc unites Barth with bassist Ugonna Okegwo and veteran drummer Al Foster. Barth's albums usually contain at least one or two pieces by Thelonious Monk, and Live at the Village Vanguard is no exception. On this CD, Barth turns his attention to three Monk compositions ("Let's Call This," "Evidence" and "San Francisco Holiday") as well as Cole Porter's "In the Still of the Night" and some original material. But as much as Barth obviously appreciates Monk's writing, he doesn't sound a lot like him. As a soloist, Barth actually has more in common with Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett. Nonetheless, he will, at times, acknowledge Monk's angular style of playing during a solo--overall, Evans and Hancock are greater influences on Barth's playing, but that doesn't mean that he can't have the occasional Monk-ish moment when he's improvising. Live at the Village Vanguard isn't groundbreaking; Barth never pretended to be an innovator. But he's good at what he does and has his share of inspired moments on this solid, if derivative, outing.