On this release for Japanese Venus Records, Sayaka Tsuruta joins Ken Peplowski and the world-class Ted Rosenthal piano trio to complile a 12-track SACD full of jazz favorites.

For Ted Rosenthal's second release on Venus, he dedicated the whole album to Helen Merrill — the exceptional singer who he has accompanied for more than ten years — by performing standars that are closely associated with her. The album starts with "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To", a track Merrill made her own on her album with Clifford Brown on trumpet and Quincy Jones as arranger. Rosenthal's smart arrangements and gorgeous, lyrical playing are complemented perfectly by George Mraz on bass and Al Foster on drums. The close interaction between the trio is astounding.

While well known amongst serious jazz fans in the U.S., the talented Ken Peplowski had been relatively unknown in Japan, until Tetsuo Hara of Venus Records introduced him with the smash hit "Memories of You" in 2006. It received not only the Gold Disc recognition, but was also awarded the Best Engineered Album in 2006 by Swing Journal. Its audiophile credentials were further enhanced when Jazz Critique Magazine chose it as the Third Best Sounding Jazz Disc of 2006.

Just like most musicians, when the dreaded Covid, along with the accompanying lockdown, hit in 2020, that was it as far as work was concerned. Like some very dark cosmic joke, I not only had a bad case of Covid in March of 2020, but my beloved dog Honeypie had to be put to sleep in April of 2021. In June of that year I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma."

Ted Rosenthal is one of the leading jazz pianists of his generation. He actively tours worldwide with his trio, as a soloist, and has performed with many jazz greats, including Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Bob Brookmeyer, and James Moody. He is the winner of the 2nd Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition in 1988. He is also very active in jazz education as a faculty member of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music. Rosenthal executed this somewhat adventurous idea beautifully and made a delightful piano trio album. His impressive arrangement skills are on full display, and his superb supporting cast George Mraz and Lewis Nash more than rises to the challenge of turning sometimes tricky compositions into a romping, swinging affair. This is a wonderful, fun and swinging piano trio album. Enthusiastically recommended.