Talented Touch recorded in the late spring or early summer of 1958. Hank Jones recorded twelve tracks accompanied by Barry Galbraith, Milt Hinton & Osie Johnson. Porgy And Bess: Swingin' Impressions by Hank Jones - Hank Jones (p) Kenny Burrell (g) Milt Hinton (b) Elvin Jones (d)- NYC, late 1958. Great Album And Great Playing
I learned about Hank Jones from the Gary Giddins book, Visions of Jazz (Oxford, 1998), which characterizes Jones as "a musician of trancendent worldliness, modernist cool, and dry wit." I agree with Giddins, and to his expert's critique I would add the following amateur listener's praise: While Jones is certainly the sort of jazz pianist who can capture my full attention, his style is such that it rewards my ears and mind even on the days when I don't have the energy for "active listening." "Talented Touch" is a nice collection.
A few years ago, Italian saxophonist Daniele D'Agaro was visiting Chicago, and a critic friend put on a fairly obscure record to stump him. D'Agaro listened for about three seconds, said: "Lucky." Good ears. He knows the distinctive sound of Lucky Thompson after he started hanging out in Paris and playing sumptuous tenor saxophone ballads recalling old idol Don Byas's Parisian sides. On "Solitude" and "We'll Be Together Again," from Lucky in Paris 1959, his tenor's… more »
