Centennial Composers Collection.

Beegie Adair (Green Hill GHD5298)

When I think of "legendary" jazz pianists, the names that come to mind are departed titans of the past such as Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and Fats Waller, along with some more contemporary masters such as Oscar Peterson, McCoy Tyner, and Keith Jarrett. Until about a year ago, I had never once heard of Beegie Adair, but her album covers and other publicity materials always seem to refer to her as a "legendary jazz pianist." I mean no disrespect to Ms. Adair, who is obviously a talented musician, when I say that the real legends featured in this 6-CD set are the composers whose tunes Ms. Adair has chosen to perform: George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and Hoagy Carmichael. Each of these estimable gentlemen is represented by about a dozen tunes that are presented in admirably straightforward fashion by Ms. Adair on piano, accompanied by Roger Spencer on bass and Chris Brown on drums.

I say "admirably straightforward," because it is most welcome to hear these tunes represented without elaborate arrangements or overheated improvisation. For each of the 75 tunes presented, the trio presents the melody, provides some tasteful embellishment, and then wraps thing up. This may not be the most exciting approach, but it is an honest and rewarding approach to this music. It is a wonderful musical resource to have all these tunes represented in one collection. Listening to this set, you may find yourself humming along, or even breaking into song from time to time as you recall some of the lyrics. These are the songs that many jazz musicians have used as the basis for their improvisations; many jazz lovers will have several different versions of many of these songs in their collections already. But here they are all in one collection, played straight, and that is a great resource for the jazz lover to have in his or her CD collection.

A nice bonus to the six CDs is the accompanying booklet by Will Friedwald, who provides capsule histories for each of the 75 songs. All lovers of American popular and jazz music would do well to pick up this boxed set. It provides a wonderful overview of a legendary era of American music.