The Walter Norris Duo

May 2 - 9, 1 9 9 6

*** The Walter Norris Duo

HUES OF BLUES

(Concord)

Best known for having worked with trumpeter-pop idol Chet Baker, Walter Norris is an excellent pianist whose deep cerebration doesn't interfere with his swinging inclinations. He and colleague George Mraz (simply one of the world's best bassists) capture loneliness and hard luck through precise gradations of feeling in the 10-minute original slow-blues title song and put a felicitous personal spin on the Rodgers and Hart evergreen "Have You Met Miss Jones?" and MJQ pianist John Lewis's "Fontessa." On six more selections, too, including Norris's elegant, inquisitive waltz "Orchids in Green," the impressive twosome rely on vast musical imagination and a strong sense of relaxation to propose their pleasures. Closing the album with "Afterthoughts," the pianist goes it alone, reflective and quietly intoxicated with life.

-- Frank-John Hadley