Although
Dorothy Donegan had a long career as a performer, the pianist had a somewhat erratic career as a recording artist, no doubt due in part to the fact that she could prove to be very demanding, arrogant, and difficult to work with. This live LP, recorded circa 1960 at the Roundtable with an unidentified rhythm section (a frequent situation on her albums), finds her ranging from swing ("Take the 'A' Train" and "My Blue Heaven") to soul-jazz ("Moanin'") and bop ("Just in Time"), all of which are played in the rather flamboyant yet consistently inventive style that was hard to mistake for anyone else. Often she abruptly switches styles in the middle of a song. Her one original of the session, "Boogie in the Nursery," at times seems inspired by
Meade "Lux" Lewis' "Honky Tonk Train Blues." Long out of print, this record will be extremely difficult to acquire.