chris anderson remembered by joel fass

[alocispepraluger102]

http://thereflectingmusician.blogspot.com/2012/01/chris-anderson-remembered.html

"To me the essence of Chris's artistry---and uniqueness---was his solo rubato style. He played with groups his whole career, including traditional piano trios, but had to edit his tremendously different harmonic approach so bass players could keep up. But solo rubato was Chris's playground. He knew the tunes he picked---every nuance of the original melody, lyric, composer's intent---so intimately it gave him license to go on some wild excursions. Those excursions featured long spaces in unexpected places, chord changes that were pure Chris Anderson yet rooted in the familiar, a light, almost fragile touch, a blues sensibility that found its way into ballads---and worked. What really made him unique, even among pianists, was that he improvisedorchestrally. Most postwar jazz pianists dealt with right hand single-line approaches. Bud Powell was as intimidating an influence on pianists, it would seem, as Charlie Parker on alto players. Even Bill Evans, another great harmonic player, dealt with this in his solos, and worked the chordal soloing in as he went. His arranging, which was brilliant, took place in his rendition set-ups--also often rubato. It's been said that sitting in movie houses all day as a sightless child was what caused Chris to memorize scores. He always said he was fascinated by arrangers like Nelson Riddle. Chris's intros could---and should---be scored. They were unique, perfect rendition set-ups, and could be heartbreaking on ballads."