The title
Heart of the Piano makes it plain: after over a decade of collaborations, pianist
Geoffrey Keezer has returned with a solo acoustic piano session. Perhaps the title also suggests something sentimental -- and he does dedicate four of the songs to individual members of his family -- but this isn't a collection of sticky love songs.
Keezer takes some happy, subtle risks with his material, opening the album with
Rush's classic rock warhorse "Limelight," working his way to moody selections from
Peter Gabriel ("Come Talk to Me") and
Alanis Morissette ("Still"), and finding time for
KT Tunstall's joyous "Suddenly I See" and
Christian McBride's "Lullaby for a Ladybug" while still working in a couple of originals as well.
Keezer lets all of these songs breathe -- sometimes speeding up, sometimes drawing things out either with tension or a luxurious, lax sense of dreaminess -- dancing around the melody without neglecting it, gliding up and down the keys but skirting a sense of indulgence. It's a sweet, slyly mischievous set that truly lets
Keezer show a full range of emotions without ever seeming like he's showing off.