Search - Johnny Varro :: Say Yes - Arbors Piano Series at Mike's Place 2

Varro takes it in Stride

Robert Tavis | Highland Village, Texas USA | 09/17/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard Johnny Varro as a teenager when I bought a couple of Phil Napoleon records. He was the pianist for the Memphis Five at the time and since I was a budding pianist, his style stuck out. If you like Teddy Wilson's style you will most likely like Varro although I think Wilson, who was pianist for Benny Goodman, is much more inventive stylistically. Varro is definitely from the old school and draws his roots from Fox Trot, Swing, Dixieland, Stride, Boogie-woogie, Barrelhouse and Ragtime. You can hear bits of Art Tatum in some of his glissando runs and the Teddy Wilson sound shines through in Varro's rolling tenths in the bass lines. I can cite other pianists who his work is reminiscent of, like; Fats Waller, Dave McKenna, Nat King Cole, Earl Hines, etc."It's Been So Long," needs to be listened to with full attention, especially for piano players. This song is one of the fastest on the CD and he pulls out all of his stops and it is quite representative of his style - or at least the style I prefer in his playing. All the other tunes are standards and some are ones seldom played by anyone else like, "It's Wonderful," "Forevermore," "Did I Remember." These are tunes that can have familiarity even though you may not be able to place who wrote or played them before."Django," however is a tune I remember from the Modern Jazz Quartet and Johnny starts it with an almost sombre classical sound and then puts a bluesy spin on it. Nuages is one of my favorites from Django Rheinhart and Johnny does a nice rendition with the song's inherently interesting chord changes. Most all of the tunes start with a similar four chord ballad-like intro which I found to be a little trite after a while.Johnny Varro is a competent piano player and his amalgamation of styles can be both interesting but annoying at times. It is annoying in that I keep wishing for him to break out into something totally original which is probably my own personal expectations more than a reflection of his playing style. However, the derivations at times are almost "homages" more than hackeneyed expressions and he does certainly deserve credit for having outstanding chops which is why I give the CD four stars. This CD does not bring anything new to the table but it does reflect an era of piano playing probably long gone by now by a pianist who is and was a leading proponent. At least Varro's recordings have survived over the years where as the Phil Napoleon recordings have not. Pity because in listening to those old records there is a vitality not seen duplicated elsewhere today. The fact that Johnny's style harkens back to those old days only makes me long for re-issues of Phil's earlier work. While I think that Varro is a most competent soloist he really excels at playing with a small group. However, this album is by no means a dissapointment for any of you Johnny Varro fans out there."