Search - Kenny Drew Jr :: This One's for You

What starts as a loving, stately tribute to the late, great pianist Bill Evans becomes, in quick fashion, an expression of intense passion for Kenny Drew Jr. Evans was a notoriously introverted player, content to tangle and untangle tunes through weird but beautiful chord manipulations endlessly. Drew's after a different task, specifically a demonstration of Evans's precision and impressionistic intellect but also a kind of poly-stylistic extension of Evans's chord-tinkering aesthetic, not to mention his always-on sultry keyboard touch. But Drew goes much further, interpolating some stride piano lines, a great deal of stirred energy, and even some forceful jabs at the keys. "Suicide Is Painless" is given Evans's mix of torching beauty and stark abstraction. "The Two Lonely People" and "Remembering the Rain" are maybe the other two most telling pieces here, touching as they do the core yearning and pain at the heart of Evans's work. It's certainly lovely, but Drew's playing comes with ache, too, maybe as an extension of Evans's inner turmoil. --Andrew Bartlett