Jess Stacy

Vintage Music Productions' 2008 release of Pianist Personified coincided closely with the appearance of Classics' 1951-1956. Both albums document the early maturity of the exceptionally fine pianist Jess Stacy, with Personified reaching ahead to the end of the decade. That's because unlike the Classics compilation (which contains a lot of exciting Benny Goodman-styled swing played by a nine-piece band billed as the Famous Sidemen), Personified confines itself to Stacy's small-group recordings, beginning with eight Brunswick sides from March 1951 with guitarist George Van Eps, bassist Morty Corb, and drummer Nick Fatool. Tracks nine through 16 were recorded for Atlantic in March 1956 and are Stacy/Fatool duets. Previously issued on both the Hanover and Vogue labels, tracks 17 through 28 were cut in December 1959, and are duets with ace drummer Gordon "Specs" Powell. While the aforementioned entry in the Classics Chronological Series offers a wider range of instrumentation, Pianist Personified is more uniformly intimate and comforting. Both releases are outstanding. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide