Despite his swing-era roots, Hines sounds modern, even avant-garde. His virtuosic rendition of "Rosalie" appears positively cubist as he jumps from one idea to another, coming at the tune from a different angle each time. It would be disjointed if his sense of form weren't so strong. He even pushes "You Do Something to Me" outside the chord changes. In contrast, "I've Got You Under My Skin" is a series of ever more elaborate variations on the melody, played in waltz time, as a tango, and in an astonishing out-of-tempo passage in which he buries the theme under mounds of decorative trills, tremolos, and swirling 16th notes. This is jazz piano at its pinnacle, a combination of virtuosity, fearless risk-taking, and boundless energy and joy.

-- Ed Hazell