Best known as Mel Tormé's pianist in the '90s,
Colianni sounds like an interesting young man in the liner notes to his Maybeck solo recital (Vol. 37 in the series) -- interested in all kinds of music and not all that enchanted with bop. Yet this mostly conventional recital is far from a statement of rebellion, or a statement of anything other than the usual generic veneration of the old masters. I will say this;
Colianni brings a dazzling technique, even by Maybeck standards, to his bop-laced-with-stride-and-Tatum interpretations. His "Tea For Two" in particular is drenched in a copycat Tatum conception, but at least
Colianni has the chops to pull it off. The sole flash of an inquiring mind comes at the end, where
Colianni sticks in a nicely bleak rendition of the late Kurt Cobain's "Heart Shaped Box" -- possibly its first jazz interpretation -- just after Gordon Jenkins' "Goodbye." They do fit together, and he should explore more such juxtapositions. ~ Richard S. Ginell