Search - Tommy Flanagan :: Sunset & Mockingbird - Birthday Concert

Happy anniversary Tommy Flanagan !

JEAN-MARIE JUIF | BESANCON France | 09/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On March 16.1997,Tommy Flanagan came to Village Vanguard to celebrate his 67th birthday.The result is this splendid record.This is Flanagan at his very best,beautifully recorded and in outstanding form.Peter Washington plays bass,and Lewis Nash,a great young musician,is the drummer.Tommy Flanagan pays tributes to the great Thad Jones,member of the Jones family with his brothers Elvin and Hank,in two tunes ("birdsong" and "let's"),to Dizzy Gillespie ("tin tin deo" and "I waited for you"),Tom McIntosh ("with malice toward none" and a masterpiece,a medley "the balanced scales/the cupbearers") and of course Duke Ellington,playing one of Duke's rarest tunes,the very emotional "Sunset and the mockingbird",the first movement of Duke's "Queen's suite".What more is there to say? Tommy Flanagan is one of jazz greatest piano players of today, with Hank Jones and Kenny Barron.His playing includes many influences: Teddy Wilson,Bud of course,Hank Jones,MaryLou Williams,Duke and Earl Hines.But he is one of jazz 's most original voices,a real master of his instrument.Every one who was lucky enough to see him on stage knows what I mean.Tommy is a superlative artist, and a beautiful man,simple,sweet,always ready and disponible to talk to you.Each track of this album is a gem, but to me,the highlight of this concert is the last track,a solo effort on the beautiful Mack Gordon tune,"goodnight my love",dedicated by Tommy to his marvelous wife,Diana.Tommy's playing is very reminiscent of Thelonious Monk during this performance.A special thank to the audience who wishes him a happy birthday at the end of the record."

Beauty !

Iris M. Harlan | Pittsburgh, PA United States | 08/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am not a Tommy Flanagan expert- but I have recently fallen in love with his music. This CD captures him certainly at an inspired time and also his drummer and bassist follow him very well, to say the least.This CD will offer a variety of moods- humor, happiness, tenderness, and more...Not much else needs to be said, but i might as well mention that the sound quality is good, the CD is over an hour long, and Tommy knows how to play the piano with both of his hands- which is rare.Also, I absolutely love the songs Tin Tin Deo, Sunset and the Mockingbird, and Malice Towards None. The others are also great."

Here I Am, Bird.

Thomas Parkinson | Ireland | 11/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To be privileged to be a bird on a wire at a Tommy Flanagan concert is something to remember. This live recording from New York's Birdland is almost as good, recorded as it is on his 67th birthday with a most appreciative audience on hand. Tommy Flanagan is physically perched by the keyboard, gentle yet powerful, a great jazz sight. A robin is a bird and so is an eagle, gentle yet powerful - powerful yet gentle. This set opens with a tuneful melody by a fellow Motor City bird, Thad Jones, and turns and twists into a wonderful example of this Bird in flight. With Lewis Nash and Peter Washington in tuneful, telephatic tandem this becomes a complete collection of works, nodding also towards Tom MacIntosh and the Birks Bird, and the Mockingbird that is Ellington. In the great scheme of things Tommy Flanagan is occasionally overlooked his place in the pecking order of superlative jazz piano stylists, but here's the remedy - buy this album and appreciate his genius. It is a grand and challenging work, and many Happy Returns to the jazzbird that is Tommy Flanagan."