Product Description

In this moving CD tribute to his father entitled Passionata (also available as an MP3 download), the dazzling pianist Kenny Drew Jr. plays songs his father wrote, songs his father loved and, in the title track, performs a piece that his father began to compose and which he, Kenny Drew Jr., completed after his father's death. A member of the Mingus Big Band and a regular player alongside Stanley Turrentine, Drew displays the same brilliance with Passionata, his 11th release as a leader. The album is pure Jazz classicism. Homage is its guiding principle, and reverie abounds. The pianist, a heroic modern rhapsodist, leads a deeply melodic, rhythmically sublime trio (supplemented by a string orchestra) through the perfumed night air and mid-tempo grooves composed or favored by his late father Kenny Drew, the Bebop pianist who helped make that style today s common Jazz language. Along with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash, and featuring Bob Belden s string arrangements on 4 songs, Kenny Drew, Jr. s Passionata is a fitting tribute to a Jazz great, as well as an example of the depth and passion of Jazz music.

Review

Beautiful music, beautifully recorded and playedâ¦lovely music that is warm, introspective and, yes, passionate, this oneâs for you. -- Jack Bowers, allaboutjazz.com- May 1998

PICK-OF-THE-WEEK...spirit of the elder Drew infuses the entire packageâ¦couldn't have found a better inspiration. -- Rick Marx, jazzcentralstation.com - 6/27/98

new prophet of jazzâ¦palpable passion and...creative invention that ought to spook the young lions du jour. -- Philip Booth, Syndicated Newspaper Writer