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Title: A very brave or very foolish jazz pianist
Review: It’s either a very brave or very foolish jazz pianist who starts off his debut CD with three (count ‘em) Thelonious Monk compositions. Fortunately, for all, David Dzubinski is the former, taking on the giants at their own game and coming away unbowed.Taking the songs as starting points rather than ends in themselves, Dzubinski does what the greats of jazz should do – treating music as an exploration. Granted, he still has some way to go before claiming a place on the pantheon, but there is so much promise here, it behoves you to have a listen immediately.Elsewhere, he dips into the standards – “Autumn Leaves”, “Blue Moon” (in three ‘phases’) and “On the Sunny Side of the Street” are given whole new readings, especially the latter, one of two vocal tracks on the album, courtesy of Kayle Brecher. The originals here seem to have a common Latin influence, with "A Little Demon - A Little Dance” the highlight.
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