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When asked recently to recommend the best active jazz musician from whom to learn about the music, my immediate response was "pianist John Bunch." The questioner was a young lady unfamiliar with jazz, but eager to partake of its delights. The three CDs listed here more than justify my response to her.

New York Swing Tributes Cole Porter,  Delta Music 1997 
New York Swing Plays Jerome Kern,  LRC. Ltd. 1994
New York Swing Plays Rodgers & Hart,  LRC. Ltd. 1993

John Bunch has enjoyed a busy and distinguished musical career. Besides his long
stint with singer Tony Bennett, his performing credits include lengthy associations with Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich, Zoot Sims, and many others. He is much appreciated by fellow musicians and discerning listeners for his swing, taste, technical wizardry, and impeccable musical instinct.

Here, in the company of the superb players who are New York Swing, he performs some of the best of Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and Rodgers & Hart. The result is sparkling, timeless renderings. Enriching already beautiful melodies with thoughtful inventions, they show their artistry is of the highest order.

In addition, the variety of textures these four musicians achieve is amazing. Guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli is a main reason. He plays lovely single string and chord solos as well as perky, cooking rhythm. But things really get going when he and Bunch spark each other with counterpoint as nimble as Fred Astaire's tap dancing. Jay Leonhart's bass always swings, and he plays several superb solos, one a lovely bowed reading of Cole Porter's "Easy To Love." Drumming of delicacy and taste by Joe Cocuzzo and Dennis Mackrel complete a sound that is truly a marvel. But it is John Bunch's piano that shimmers.

Bunch's playing has a crystal clarity and extraordinary melodic symmetry. His improvised lines are set off with delightful occasional insertions of familiar melodic fragments. They are played with such elan as to be almost unnoticed, a sure measure of wit, imagination and gentle humor. Catch the third chorus of Jerome Kern's lovely "I'm Old Fashioned" for a glimpse of melody sources as diverse as comedian Jack Benny and Bop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie!

As I write this, listening to Rodgers & Harts' "Falling In Love With Love" played at a
blazing tempo, I marvel at the power of quietly articulated precision in the hands of such artists as these. It is truly New York Swing at its brilliant best and should be in every music lover's collection.

- Bob Sparkman, March 2004

Editor's Note: Bob Sparkman's respect for John Bunch's musicianship comes from the many gigs they played together at Eddie Condon's New York jazz club in the 1970's.

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