Search - Peter Nordahl :: Look of Love

Incredible Album from an Unknown Jazz Trio

Michael J. Jensen | San Francisco, CA United States | 09/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Look of Love is a great album of beautiful, lush, and subtle jazz. The title piece (yes, a cover of the Burt Bacharach song) is surprising in how good it is; I would dare to compare the unlikely success of this piece for jazz to Someday My Prince Will Come (which is now a standard). As in the other pieces, the piano (Nordahl?) carries the melody; it is soft and carefully weighted playing that maintains the familiarity of the original but adds much more depth. This is followed up by two jazz standards: Lush Life and Autumn Leaves. I love Autumn Leaves in all its variety with Cannonball's version from Somethin' Else and Bill Evan's from Portrait in Jazz being favorites - Nordahl's version holds its own and showcases his abilities on the piano. The rest of album maintains the same high standards, including an adaptation of a traditional Swedish song in Ore Polska and Gershwin's Lullaby.



I have one other Peter Nordahl Trio album, An American In Paris, which is just as good. I got my copy of The Look of Love from Japan and know that they are much better known there than here... seems to me like we've been missing out. If you are into softer (NOT soft and content-weak jazz) and subtler jazz, then you will probably love this album like I do."