Search - Danny Barker :: Salute to Jelly Roll Morton

Too Fast!

Rob F | New England | 07/13/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm only commenting on Track #7, 'Fingerbreaker,' since it's the only one I've heard, so I gave the rest of the record the benefit of the doubt with 4 out of 5 stars. Anyway, 'Fingerbreaker' is supposed to be one of those ragtime tunes that's played up tempo as the fingering is complex, thus the title 'Fingerbreaker.' I don't know who plays the piano on this, but it's horrible! Whomever's playing it is just attempting bravado by playing it as fast as possible. It doesn't matter that he hits the right notes most of the time, because he's not hitting them correctly, and it has no soul. I'm surprised that a supposedly experienced pianist would be this amateurish in his playing. Speed is nothing without feeling, and there's no feeling whatsoever in this performance which totally fails. Obviously, the audience are also a bunch of amateur listeners and probably inebriated to boot. This is not worthy of having been recorded and the pianist should be ashamed."