Hal Schaefer has been an active pianist for decades, sporadically recording under his own name and accompanying
Peggy Lee,
June Christy,
Stan Kenton,
Marilyn Monroe, and others on record dates.
Schaefer is a mainstream player comparable to
Dick Hyman, who finds something fresh in everything he plays without losing track of the source melody.
Schaefer recorded 14 of the tracks in his home studio, incorporating
Art Tatum-like flourishes into many of the standards that date back to the 1930s and 1940s, especially in his energetic treatment of "What Is This Thing Called Love?" and the jovial "Too Marvelous for Words." His interpretations of music by Lerner & Loewe include a shimmering, relaxed setting of "Almost Like Being in Love" and a buoyant, elegant "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face." The studio sessions are followed by two live performances, the bittersweet original "Strange as It Seems" and an oddly rollicking take of "The Lord's Prayer" that finds the musician singing along (à la
Keith Jarrett). ~ Ken Dryden