Dick Clark An Evening Of Piano Jazz CD

An Evening of Piano Jazz features Dick Clark's musical artistry demonstrating his high intensity, passionate performance style. This album was recorded live in a sold out concert held at the Sea Ranch Club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 10th of 2005. The performance was dedicated to his two most admired jazz pianists, Oscar Peterson and Gene Harris.Musicians say that Dick's a "cookin jazz pianist who performs with tremendous energy clearly showing the influence of both Peterson and Harris." Former Count Basie drummer and jazz great, Duffy Jackson says that Dick "just digs in and finds that groove!"Probably the most unique aspect of this performance is the fact that Dick performed all of the tracks on the album himself. He pre-recorded the bass, guitar, strings, and drum fill tracks prior to the concert on his Kawai Digital Grand Piano and performed the piano tracks live. People were amazed how Dick was able to achieve such a swinging, on top of the beat feel when the parts were pre-recorded and not performed with live musicians. Being both a piano and bass player, Dick has a keen conceptual understanding of those instruments, how to play them, and make it all swing. The Sea Ranch Club Concert was presented to a broad spectrum of musical enthusiasts. Certain tunes performed clearly highlighted Dick's tremendous influence by Peterson and Harris. In a Peterson style, "Night Train" quickly gets into a down home groove. A Harris style "C-Jam Blues" heats up the tempo, with a strong on top of the beat feel, "Satin Doll" gets right into a straight forward swing, and the Neal Hefti arrangement of "Shiny Stockings" builds even more excitement for the concert.In addition to the tunes performed in the style of Peterson and Harris, Dick performed his special arrangement of "Georgia on My Mind" in tribute to the late Ray Charles. Also featured were two well-known latin jazz standards, "Wave" and "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars" both written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and a beautiful ballade, "Like Someone In Love." The concert finale was Dick's arrangement of Paul Anka's "My Way" that brought the audience to their feet in a standing ovation for his performance.