Cy Walter

[mjzee]

It’s the grossest of understatements to say that cocktail pianists get no respect. They spend most of their lives playing for people who aren’t listening, a not-insignificant number of whom are either drunk or en route to being so. And while I never actually heard anyone ask for “Melancholy Baby” in the long-ago days when I gigged in bars, it’s usually safe to assume that when somebody does have a request, it’ll be for something you’ve played an octillion times. On the other hand, it’s also true that most cocktail pianists aren’t worth listening to, at least not very closely. Sometimes they’re just going through the motions (and who shall blame them?) and sometimes they simply aren’t very good. But a few such folk are true artists, and one of them, Cy Walter, was a very great one, among the finest popular pianists of the 20th century.

More here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/cy-walters-cocktail-piano-with-a-twist-1452721350

[JSngry]

Not without interest!

 

 

The label makes sense too, it's got that Lee Wiley "not really "jazz" but as much jazz as it is anything else" vibe to it, like who else is going to like this except people who don't hate jazz and really dig show tunes?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Music_Shop_Records