Solo
(ABC)
You sense a depth here from the opening notes. Paul Grabowsky has never recorded a solo piano album before and you hear the resolve to make the opportunity count. His harmonic extrapolations on the delicate Angel are so rich and surprising it is like turning the pages of an illuminated medieval book to be startled first by the gold leaf and then the silver. Most of the compositions are his own, the two exceptions including a ‘Round Midnight to reassert its witching-hour connotations as he improvises with fragments of the melody. Imagination alone will only take the listener so far, however, and again it is the depth of heart being poured into the music that makes this version so exceptional. Grabowsky has always been blessed with the touch to make a piano truly sing, and when combined with a good Steinway and superb recording quality each note throughout this album seems to glisten as it wings from speaker to ear.