When the pianist and composer Herbie Nichols died in 1963, his work was little known outside of a small circle of colleagues and admirers. A contemporary and associate of Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, Nichols made joyous... more » music by fusing complex rhythms and harmonies. With the recent release of his complete Blue Note recordings, however, Nichols's work has begun to reach the wider audience it has always deserved. This disc stands out among CD tributes for the way in which Duck Baker has fused Nichols's compositions with his extraordinary finger-style guitar work. Baker has entered deep into the spirit of the music and found ways to match Nichols's polyrhythmic and contrapuntal keyboard approach on his own instrument. The results are musically as well as technically brilliant, rich in the blues and Caribbean rhythms that fueled Nichols's musical imagination. These tunes deserve to be jazz standards, and Baker demonstrates why. --Stuart Broomer« less
When the pianist and composer Herbie Nichols died in 1963, his work was little known outside of a small circle of colleagues and admirers. A contemporary and associate of Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, Nichols made joyous music by fusing complex rhythms and harmonies. With the recent release of his complete Blue Note recordings, however, Nichols's work has begun to reach the wider audience it has always deserved. This disc stands out among CD tributes for the way in which Duck Baker has fused Nichols's compositions with his extraordinary finger-style guitar work. Baker has entered deep into the spirit of the music and found ways to match Nichols's polyrhythmic and contrapuntal keyboard approach on his own instrument. The results are musically as well as technically brilliant, rich in the blues and Caribbean rhythms that fueled Nichols's musical imagination. These tunes deserve to be jazz standards, and Baker demonstrates why. --Stuart Broomer
CD Reviews
A great introduction to Herbie Nichols' music
03/06/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"On this album, Duck Baker takes a spare, solo-guitar approach to realizing the music of Herbie Nichols, a much-underappreciated contemporary of such jazz luminaries as Thelonious Monk. Baker clearly understands Nichol's ferocious harmonic complexity, demonstrated amply by the range of chord voicings that are several steps removed from run-of-the-mill II-V-I. "The Third World," which opens the album, is reminiscent of Thelonious Monk's compositions, but it has a flavor distinctly different from Monk, which Baker articulates with grace and extraordinary time. This album is well-worth the listen, whether you're a guitar fan or jazz fan or what have you -- it's simply great music."
Genius Qualified
K. E. Loucks | Columbus, OH USA | 06/25/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Duck Baker is a genius in his ability to arrange complex piano pieces for finger-style guitar, and his technical execution of these pieces is masterful. I admire Duck Baker greatly, but I believe his work has one, just one, flaw; his inability to swing. A listen to Herbie Nichols' Blue Note recordings shows that for all his compositional complexity he could swing with the best. Duck's recordings, going all the way back to his Kicking Mule issued Ragtime-based work, felt rythmically static to me. For this reason I'm afraid that this recording will please jazz listeners less than it will the lovers of precise,
more folk-based finger-style guitar."
Discover two unkown geniuses on one disc!
K. E. Loucks | 07/24/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Duck Baker is widely appreciated as a master of finger-style jazz guitar, and his recordings of Herbie Nichols' beautiful music are truly rewarding. Guitar fans and jazz fans who are into Monk,etc, will get alot out of this nuanced interpretation."
Duck Baker: A Genius!
Stephen Lewis | South London, England | 12/17/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"With Duck Bakers brillant finger-style approach to jazz guitar, he manages to improvise in Herbie Nichols complex songs. This is done with energy and beauty. Most of the songs are played at a slower pace than Herbie's original blue note recordings, though in no way does this detract from the songs. In fact the opposite is true."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1