Just Friends

Read About This Recording

Marian McPartland, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday, is an apparently ageless marvel. She has become famous for hosting her Piano Jazz radio program since 1978 and still performs regularly in concerts and clubs. Her career started in the late 1930s in her native England and she played for the troops during World War II. Married to the classic Dixieland cornetist Jimmy McPartland in the mid-1940s, she moved with him to the United States in 1946. Although she sometimes played in his Dixieland groups, she was actually a more modern stylist. She gained attention for her work with her trio at the Hickory House during 1952-60 and was considered a harmonically adventurous and versatile pianist long before the Piano Jazz programs.

Just Friends, which was released in 1998, has McPartland playing two piano duets apiece with Tommy Flanagan, Renee Rosnes, George Shearing, Geri Allen, Dave Brubeck and Gene Harris, just as she often plays duets on Piano Jazz. The interplay between McPartland and these very different stylists is consistently fascinating with plenty of subtle surprises. Among the highpoints are Jeepers Creepers with Flanagan, the title cut (with George Shearing), an improvisation with Geri Allen and Lady Be Good with Gene Harris. The program closes with a relatively somber version of When The Saints Go Marching In that Marian McPartland performs solo in tribute to the late Jimmy McPartland.

Marian McPartland's impressive technical skills, versatility and youthful spirit are felt throughout this rewarding collection.

-Scott Yanow

Quotes

In jazz, two pianos are usually one too many - but not when the second pair of hands belongs to Marian McPartland. As the host of National Public Radio's Piano Jazz, the longest-running jazz program in the history of network radio, McPartland has played more duets with more different pianists than anyone in the history of jazz, and the fruits of her vast experience can be heard on Just Friends, in which six of her favorite on-the-air partners join forces to celebrate her 80th birthday. -Terry Teachout

Contents

While supplies last!

Marian McPartland performs with: Tommy Flanagan: Jeepers Creepers; I've Got a Crush on You; Renee Rosnes: Some Time Ago; It's You or No One; George Shearing: Just Friends; Twilight World; Geri Allen: Lullaby of the Leaves; Chrysalis; Dave Brubeck: Gone with the Wind; Marian McPartland; Gene Harris: There Will Never Be Another You; Lady Be Good; Marian's Solo (for Jimmy): When the Saints Go Marching In.