Richie Beirach - Leaving (2023) [Official Digital Download]

Pianist/composer Richie Beirach re-imagines well known jazz standards in stunning solo piano concert at France's Château Fleur Cardinale. Forty-five years after his first solo piano recording, 'Hubris' for ECM Records, Brooklyn-born Richie Beirach returns to that intimate and revealing setting on 'Leaving'. A live concert in Saint-Etienne-de-Lisse, near Bordeaux, France, this collection of jazz standards he has played innumerable times over his long and illustrious career finds the 75-year-old pianist plumbing new depths of emotion and heights of expression in a highly exploratory program.

"I've never recorded a whole CD of standards playing solo piano," said Beirach. "Usually in concert I present original material or I just play a lot of free improv stuff, but this time I wanted to go back and play these tunes again solo in front of a live audience. And I was amazed at the things that I found."

Performing on a 9-foot Steinway grand piano before an intimate gathering of 120 people in a French chateau wine tasting room, Beirach puts his own unique stamp on timeless standards like "Nardis," "Solar," "'Round Midnight," "Footprints" and "Some Other Time."

Throughout the concert, he also strings tunes together in unexpected medleys, like "What Is This Thing Called Love?"/"Alone Together"/"Blue in Green" and "Spring Is Here"/"Maiden Voyage"/"Monk's Dream"/"You Don't Know What Love Is." And while he incorporates such devices as reharmonisation of themes, rhythmic reinvention, counterpoint and motivic development, Beirach is also mindful of incorporating the swing factor into his interpretations of these standards.
"I am unabashedly a jazz pianist, I can swing, and I love it," he said. "And I think the people can feel that. A lot of guys play without the swing feel, and it's still very good and beautiful. But there's something about swinging that is a part of my musical makeup."

TRACKLIST

1 Nardis
2 What Is This Thing Called Love?/Alone Together/Blue in Green
3 Round Midnight
4 On Green Dolphin Street
5 Some Other Time
6 Solar
7 Spring Is Here/Maiden Voyage/Monk's Dream /You Don't Know What Love Is
8 Footprints
9 Leaving



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