O Brian Priestley Salutes 15 Jazz Piano Greats. Spirits of Jazz 0 CD CD09-0995 (66 minutes: DDD).

Not all that many jazz critics are also active jazz musicians, and of those who are, few are brave enough to record an entire album of predominantly solo piano. This collection by Brian Priestley (who is joined on five of the 15 tracks by saxophonist Don Rendell) is more than simply a brave attempt, it's an absorbing and interesting cross-section of Priestley's very personal response to some of the most innovative figures in the jazz piano canon. Most tracks are interpretations of pieces by other pianists, the balance are Priestley's own compositions celebrating Fats Waller and Erroll Garner. There are plenty of pianistic in-jokes, as one might expect from someone so immersed in the jazz tradition, so spontaneous and improvised quotes appear here and there throughout the whole disc, some of them indicated in the helpful notes by fellow writer/pianist Mike Hennessey. Overall, though, Priestley emerges as his own man. Two of the slower tracks on the disc steal the honours — a tender reading of Strayhorn's Star-Crossed Lovers with Rendell on tenor and a delicate version of McCoy Tyner's You Taught My Heart To Sing. AS