Art Hodes was just ten days short of his 84th birthday at the time of this Candid solo piano CD.
Hodes had his own style for quite a few decades by then. A masterful blues player, on the more up-tempo tunes,
Art's left hand tended to state each beat in double-time, a very effective device. For this tribute to
Jelly Roll Morton,
Hodes performs 13 tunes recorded by
Morton (eight of which
Jelly Roll wrote) along with two of his own originals: a blues number and "Pagin' Mr. Jelly," which is partly based on
Morton's "King Porter Stomp." The five faster performances really stomp, the three medium-tempo renditions swing, and the seven more introspective pieces are quite soulful. Recommended. ~ Scott Yanow