Peter Friedman

Beethoven - String Quartet No.3, Op.18/3 and Mozart - Piano Concerto No.25, K.503

Beethoven - Violin Concerto - Francescatti / Walter

Dvorak - String Quintet Op.97 and Beethoven - Symphony No.5

I have loved piano trios since I was a teenager, but my true appreciation of string quartets developed many decades later. Your point makes good sense to me as perhaps my favorite music other than jazz are the string quartets of Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert and others.

See my comments about this album in the Artists thread.

I am of two minds about Roland Hanna. That classical thing you mentioned can, for me, end with Hanna becoming very non-swinging and I loose interest. Other times he can swing hard and his playing is very appealing to me. It is when he plays solo that I am often less than pleased. When it comes to Detroit jazz piano players I would list Roland Hanna behind my many favorites such as Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, Hank Jones (Pontiac), Kirk Lightsey, and Hugh Lawson.

Pulled "Sophisticated Giant" off the shelf yesterday and listened to it so I could reply to your question. I found the album a mixed bag. Some of the tracks I highly enjoyed, and others not so much. Perhaps my least favorite track was "Laura". The arrangement was overpowering and Dexter's solo was, as you indicated not up front enough and also was uninteresting. "How Insensitive" was another below average track. The piano work by George Cables stood out on "You're Blasé". The two more swinging tunes - "Red Top" and "Fried Bananas" were both very good and my favorite tracks. The arrangements worked well with Dexter's strong solo playing. There were also fine trumpet and vibes solos. Rufus Reid was excellent on every tune. his sound and swing were impressive. George Cables had a number of excellent solos as well. So in summary, not one of Dexter's very best albums, but one I enjoyed nonetheless.

My view of the jazz piano trio is very different. I am a huge fan of the piano trio, and enjoy listening to a very large number of pianists in that format. To me the piano trio is (usually) far more interesting to me than solo piano albums. Though the caveat here is the generation of the pianist. Pre-bop piano players tend to use their left hands a great deal which makes for a fuller piano sound on solo recordings. So I do enjoy solo recordings by jazz piano players who play in the pre-bop manner. Most modern jazz piano players rely heavily on the right hand with just minor use of the left hand. That may be why I prefer the trio format for modern jazz pianists, as it fills in the full bass sound often lacking. There are of course exceptions.

Tchaikovsky Symphony No.1 "Winter Dreams" / The Snow Maiden / Romeo And Juliet Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra - Neeme Jarvi

Schumann - String Quartet No.2, Op.41/2 and Mozart - Piano Concerto No.23, K.488

Beethoven - Violin Sonata No.8, Op.30/3 and Mendelssohn - Octet Op.20