The Jazz Recordings (CD10) [Box set]

I bought this without quite knowing what was in it: ten discs of André Previn's jazz recordings, sure, but what does that mean exactly?

The answer is: an amazing bargain.

As you would expect at the super-budget price point, this box simply contains the discs in cardboard sleeves together with a tracklisting: no liner notes of any kind. The overall running time is ten hours.

The albums reproduced (varying in date between about 1956 and 1960) vary notably in content, so here's a listing:

André Previn, Heart & Soul (trad jazz piano, largely unaccompanied)
André Previn & His Pals, Pal Joey
Andre Previn & His Pals, Gigi
André Previn Plays Songs By Vernon Duke
André Previn Plays Songs By Jerome Kern
André Previn's Trio Jazz, King Size!
André Previn, West Side Story
André Previn's Trio, Like Previn!
André Previn, Elmer Gantry Original Soundtrack
André Previn Plays Songs By Harold Arlen
André Kostelanetz & His Orchestra with André Previn, Gershwin: Concerto in F
André Previn with David Rose & His Orchestra, Secret Songs For Young Lovers
André Previn with David Rose & His Orchestra, Like Blue
Shelly Manne, My Fair Lady
André Previn & Russ Freeman, Double Play
André Previn & Dinah Shore, Dinah Sings André Plays

Previn, of course, plays the jazz piano beautifully (both solo and in a trio context) with a fluid, weightless style and extraordinary invention: the music is never allowed to ramble, and he keeps the themes close at hand. This is especially true of the "Plays Songs of" series, where mercurial solo performances put Previn in the first rank of jazz pianists.

The albums with a trio featuring Shelly Manne on drums focus on individual Broadway shows and expand the sonic template somewhat, but there is even greater depth to be found in Like Previn! and King Size!, where the formula of straight standard performances gives way to something more exploratory.

The Dinah Shore album is very much of its time but it's difficult to argue with her beautifully tender performance of "My Funny Valentine"; either way, it will be more Shore's singing that makes or breaks this album for you than Previn's unobtrusive work at the piano.

The two albums with David Rose (from 1959 and 1960) are, for me, blighted by their orchestral arrangements, which are very sugary indeed with massed strings drenched in reverb. That's probably a disc worth leaving in the box unless you have an occasional hankering for some really kitsch easy listening.

Some of the oddities here are, however, gems: the Oscar-nominated orchestral soundtrack from Elmer Gantry (1960), for example, is the sort of thing that would fully justify the price of the entire set on its own. The Gershwin concerto is also a great bonus: this recording has been overshadowed by Previn's recordings of this work with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Orchestra, yet it still very enjoyable.

It's also worth a special mention for Double Play, a 1957 album themed around baseball that was (according to Wikipedia) originally advertised as the first time that two pianists had played modern jazz together.

This is a set that will reward exploration and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is even slightly curious about what the great classical pianist & conductor achieved in the jazz world.

I'd forgotten just how good a jazz painist Andre Previn was. I can recall buying LPs by this guy. Given the albums recorded here I'm puzzled as to why the excellent Doris Day/Andre Previn album was omitted. That has to be one of Day's best albums - 'Close Your Eyes' has to be one of the most sensuous love songs writtten as performed by this duo. Ten CDs for less than £8 is an absolute bargain even without the Doris Day album. Readers who haven't got that one should buy it.