Liz Story

Pure Liz Story bypasses piano great Story's late-career artistic wanderings in favor of doing exactly what the title promises: presenting her as an innovator who's most at home seated behind a piano bench alone. Tracks from all her best-loved discs surface here; the first three are from her stunning 1983 debut, Solid Colors, but the rest skip back and forth across her decades-long discography. Traditional songs -- Ellington's "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)," Weill's "Mack the Knife" -- rub shoulders with original signatures such as "Toy Soldiers" (from Part of Fortune) and "Captain April" (from 17 Seconds to Anywhere), but the most pleasant surprise is saved for last. "Valse D'Amelie," from the film Amelie, is romance run through a well-worn keyboard. It's presented here as a bonus track. ~ Tammy La Gorce, All Music Guide