ROGER LENT PLAYS GERSHWIN

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Roger Lent In The Sublime Gershwin the immensely gifted pianist Roger Lent salutes the all-American musical icon by playing to perfection seven of Gershwin’s Preludes, his Four Pieces, including Promenade in C major, Impromptu in Two Keys, Three Quarter Blues, and Two Waltzes in C Major, all written between 1923 and 1937.

The Preludes would have added up to twenty-four had Gershwin lived to complete The Melting Pot, a collection of two dozen short pieces with which he aimed to if not establish at least reinforce his credentials as a “serious” composer.

It took for Nadia Boulanger to tell someone to tell Gershwin not to bother with the rigors of classical composition lest he should lose his jazzy identity. Ravel bluntly said to him that given the American’s handsome annual income, it should be Gershwin the one to teach Ravel and not the other way around. But Gershwin persisted, teaching himself while writing if not for Carnegie Hall, then for Broadway and Hollywood

Listening to the straightforward honesty of these gems, one is 100% convinced that the two French giants were right. But do not for moment think that there is nothing but well-structured, daringly harmonized, contrapuntally complex, quintessentially American, blessedly inspired music in each and every one of the eleven tracks in this CD. Nor let anyone suspect that I am giving short shrift to the ubiquitous Rhapsody in Blue with which Roger Lent felicitously brings the album to a memorable close.

Throughout Lent’s playing is deliberate, elegant, relaxed, clearly articulated, and attentive to details that faster tempi often tend to muddle. This invaluable artist, first an esteemed jazz musician and trumpet player, now an accomplished keyboard artist has in this, his first solo album as a pianist, a hands-down winner.

Classily produced by Lent’s mentor William Daghlian, perfectly engineered by Jonathan Schultz, and accompanied by insightful liner notes by Lent himself, the Espressivo label CD The Sublime Gershwin is available through http://www.jazzheads.com.

Listen here: https://youtu.be/Sr2nZxJiKDQ

Rafael de Acha           http://www.RafaelMusicNotes.com

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”