Pianist/composer Jim Beard applies his masterful hand as an arranger to this collection of delightful oddities. "Step Inside," with its "Big Bad Wolf" piano melody over a drum machine leads us down a couple of blind alleys, then opens onto a sparkling piano solo, while "Pumpkin Fat" features Bill Evans's spiraling soprano saxophone over a bed of piquant woodwind chords. Beard seems more interested in suggestion and nuance than in overt display of piano pyrotechnics. Best of all, it's funny without being slapstick--instruments appear then drop out, key changes come and go, songs drift off without announcing the end.