Aria

Sullivan Fortner is a piano genius. His talent is deep, innate, preternatural. I’m simply amazed each time I hear him.

Heard this song on a coworkers phone asked about it and found out it was his Brother-in-law. I went on Amazon played the mp3 version but bought the CD with AutoRip. Great music for relaxing with a glass of wine.

Incredible! Beautiful and creative music

I bought this on the recommendation of a 4 star downbeat review which is always a somewhat hit or miss and has lately been a bit unreliable since they give out 4 stars like candy. In this case, whoever reviewed this cd seriously missed the boat. This is an extremely uneven and unsatisfying outing with many more low points than high spots. On the positive side Mr Fortner is an undeniably talented pianist but certainly not an original stylist. His playing is so reminiscent of many other greats that it is hard not to hear his playing as being very derivative. On one tune he is a blend of Ahmad Jamal and Phineas Newborn while on another you could swear that you were listening to an unreleased Bill Evans set. He has undertones of McCoy Tyner blended with Wynton Kelly on another cut. I was hoping to discover a fresh sounding new pianist like Orrin Evans but I was given a competent copyist instead. Fortner is strongest when he stays with a trio setting on a few of the selections and he is a lovely ballad player but this outing really suffers from the horn player. The opening selection on the CD displays a soprano saxophone player who just quite simply doesn't understand how to make the instrument sound right. The playing is mundane, uninspired and downright poor. I have a real difficult time listening to a couple of spots here where it sounds as if one were listening to a vinyl LP and the needle was stuck. It is the same repetitive phrase done again and again and again and is torturous to listen to. The horn player is a bit stronger when he plays tenor but he still doesn't seem to fit well with the trio. The drumming is very good but the bass is at best competent.Altogether this album only gets 2 stars from me based on the ballad trio selections but even still those are not something I want to hear again and again. I suggest to Mr Fortner strongly that he lose the horn player totally because he is just not right for the group. A trio outing would not be a bad idea and that might allow a listener to find more worthwhile music to appreciate. The horn player needs to go back to the woodshed and completely give up the thought that he can play soprano sax. Were there no trio selections on this CD it would certainly rate barely half a star. Extra disappointing outing here.

By listening to this album, you are listening to history. One of the greatest pianists of the 2010s!

Great!!!!