The Mike Longo Trio // Celebrating Oscar Peterson
Jazz pianist Mike Longo puts out a nicely varied 13-song playlist.
The Mike Longo Trio
Celebrating Oscar Peterson (Live in NYC)
CAP
Jazz pianist Mike Longo's not among the designated "greats" (Corea, Hancock, et al.), but at 75 years old, he knows his way around the piano well enough to please anyone who loves the instrument. Longo has played with a long list of greats, including nine years with Dizzy Gillespie. It also happens that he studied for what he calls "an intense" six months with the man he is celebrating here. As Peterson urged him to be, Longo is his own man, although, like Oscar, he plays emphatically, except to apply a softer touch when appropriate. A strong blues feeling is ever-present, and Longo seems to relish a medium-tempo groove, yet he can go way up-tempo ("Sweet Georgia Brown") or caress a ballad ("A Child is Born"). With bassist Paul West and drummer Ray Mosca, the trio covers very well a highly listenable, nicely varied 13-song playlist (Ellington, Monk, Clifford Brown, Gershwin, etc).
4/5
