The Marian McPartland Trio - Personal Choice (1983) [Full Album HQ] {Cool Jazz}

This is the first high-quality recording of this unique, cool jazz album on any streaming platform. Enjoy!

Tracklist:
1. I Hear A Rhapsody (0:00)
2. Meditation (3:55)
3. In Your Own Sweet Way (7:50)
4. A Sleepin' Bee (11:58)
5. I'm Old Fashioned (17:56)
6. When The Sun Comes Out (21:17)
7. Tricotism (24:56)
8. Melancholy Mood (29:43)

Abridged Liner Notes:
“Many a genius has been slow of growth,” wrote the great English critic George Henry Lewes. “Oaks that flourish for a thousand years do not spring up into beauty like a reed.” Lewes was writing of drama, but his observation applies to all of the creative arts, and in music to no one more appropriately than Marian McPartland. [...] [her] piano playing has always been beautiful. Now, it is also lean, tough, and full of surprises. It is no coincidence that during the past decade, her period of most intense artistic development, she has been heavily involved with extra-curricular activities. Her national public radio program “Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz,” is into its third season as one of the most successful live jazz series ever presented. It has brought her into close contact with many of her fellow pianists ranging in style from Eubie Blake to Chick Corea. Her cable TV series, “Women in Jazz,” has been shown all over the country. She has also remained extremely active in music education seminars. Despite all these commitments… possibly in part because of them… Marian continues to grow as a player, moving closer and closer to the essence of jazz. It is inconceivable that anyone today could write of her “woman’s touch” as a DownBeat reviewer did, disparagingly, in the early 1970s. This concept does not apply. She has the technique, the forthright inventiveness, the expressiveness of a first-rank jazz pianist. Gender is irrelevant. [...] In this record, Marian's fifth for Concord [...] She has made her personal choice of eight favorite tunes and two favorite musicians. “We couldn’t have a more compatible group,” she says. “Jake Hanna is my old sidekick from way back. He’s so comfortable to work with, and his kind of brushwork is hard to find nowadays. He and Steve LaSpina had never played together before, but they liked each other practically on sight.” Hanna, one of the great time keepers in jazz, has been on no fewer than 63 Concord LPs. LaSpina has been working more or less steadily with McPartland the past three years. [...] There is no need for a play-by-play on such accessible music, but Marian's comments on the tunes are illuminating.
I HEAR A RHAPSODY: “I learned this piece by osmosis many years ago, listening to it on the BBC. And I’ve heard Bill Evans play it, too. I’ve always considered his the definitive version, and I still do. So it’s been a challenge to me to create my own interpretation of the tune.”
MEDITATION: “Steve and I started playing it on our duo gigs. That line he created is so simple and pretty, I really like it. We play a lot of Jobim songs, and this one is a particular favorite.”
IN YOUR OWN SWEET WAY: “Years ago, Miles Davis was the first to record it, after Brubeck, of course. And that put the Good Housekeeping Seal on it. Miles put a flatted fifth at the end of the first phrase but it never sounded quite right to me. So I don’t play it that way.”
A SLEEPIN' BEE/WHEN THE SUN COMES OUT: “Harold Arlen rights wonderful melodies so unusual in their structure that they are always interesting to improvise on. These are two of my favorite Arlen pieces.”
I’M OLD FASHIONED: “Another composer I’ve always loved, Jerome Kern. A lot of people seem surprised that we play this at a medium/up-tempo. Are used to do it as a ballad but somehow it just moved into this faster tempo, and it feels really good this way.”
TRICOTISM: “I learned this tune from Oscar Pettiford who used to come and sit in at the Hickory House. What a bassist he was! Steve likes to play it, perhaps because it features him! Wonder what Oscar had in mind with that title.” (Note: according to the Oxford English dictionary, tricotism is a medical condition in which there are three undulations for each beat of the heart.)
MELANCHOLY MOOD: Marian’s former husband, cornettist Jimmy McPartland, gets part of the credit for this tune. “I wrote it years ago. That first phrase came from something Jimmy used to play when he was practicing so I consider him co-composer. After I played it on the piano the rest of the tune just fell into place.”
The joy of discovery and invention is obvious in Marian McPartland's playing. She has become a major artist. But she has not become complacent. Not long ago an interviewer asked her what she considered the peak of her career. “What a question! I told her I hadn’t reached it so far,” Marian says with some insistence. “It hasn’t happened yet, but I’m working on it.”
–Doug Ramsey (Jazz Times, Texas Monthly, Chronicles of Culture)