This young, stupendously gifted French classical virtuoso follows up his Bill Evans album with a similar attempt to pull
Duke Ellington into the classical repertoire, rushed out just in time for the
Ellington centennial. While there are direct transcriptions, this time listeners mostly hear arrangements of tunes prepared by a battery of skilled arrangers who took the trouble to listen to Thibaudet's classical recordings to determine what would suit him best -- an approach not unlike
Ellington's tailored writing for his sidemen. Yet the outcome is often the same as on the Evans CD, establishing direct links between
Duke, the French Impressionists, and
Rachmaninov, which perfectly reflects where this pianist is coming from. Again, Thibaudet unleashes his huge dynamic range, massive technique, and nearly infinite variety of touches in the service of the work of arrangers
Jed Distler,
Dick Hyman,
Roger Kellaway, Larry Hochman, and Joel Silberman. Again, Thibaudet isn't afraid to overdub another piano to simulate the
Ellington-
Strayhorn duet on "Tonk" or to realize
Kellaway's brilliantly eccentric, partially 12-tone "Fantasy on Caravan." He also takes on
Ellington rarities like "The Clothed Woman," whose atonal intro and nearly swinging vamp turn it into a classical bagatelle, and a relaxed suite of three songs from the Broadway show Beggar's Holiday, as well as some
Strayhorn corollaries. There is one encore to the Evans album as
Distler transcribes a particularly
Debussy-like Evans take on "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)." While Thibaudet remains rather inhibited in the swinging department -- though he is audibly loosening up -- one imagines that the upwardly mobile
Duke would have jumped for joy to hear his songs played with such elegance and sheer sensual beauty. ~ Richard S. Ginell