Flanagan, Fitzgerald: Greatness in Jazz

Highly sophisticated piano jazz has such tremendous appeal. I listened to one of my very favorite keyboard men today, the great Tommy Flanagan. The man has pure joy going on when he is really cookin' with lilting linear lines of vivid improvisation. It's interesting how he can adapt himself. He gets some fabulous work done on the J.J. Johnson tune, 'Lament.' And also I truly find myself delighted with the sparkling really uptempo number, 'Raincheck.' Tommy Flanagan backed up the great Ella Fitzgerald for a long time. They made grand, intoxicating so joyous music together. The wonderfully honed phrasing of Tommy Flanagan on piano and the delightful vocal nuances developed by Ella Fitzgerald...well these sounds are what one might call the very pinnacle of jazz delight.