by Ken Dryden
Pianist Steve Kuhn, accompanied by David Finck and Billy Drummond, explore classical works by a number of top composers from the 19th and 20th centuries on this Japanese release, though they are used as a launching pad for improvisation. Maurice Ravel's &Pavane For a Dead Princess& is recast as a soft samba, also incorporating a bit of an earlier standard that was derived from the French Impressionist's piece, &The Lamp is Low.& Chopin is obviously one of Kuhn's favorite classical composers, as three of his features, highlighted by a dreamy setting of &Nocturne in E Flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2.& He brightens the tempo of Claude Debussy's &Reverie& while retaining its lyricism, while slowing Johannes Brahms' &Lullaby& to a crawl and demonstrating how a master jazz pianist utilizes space as an element of improvisation. Classical purists are always upset with jazz arrangements of &their& music, but anyone who loves both musical worlds will appreciate Steve Kuhn's thoughtful arrangements of music that has easily stood the test of time.