Howard Riley - Listen To Hear

Pianist Howard Riley performing solo works, recorded 12 September 2017 at Porcupine Studios, London.

Howard has been a regular and productive recording artist on SLAM since the very early days of 1990. In fact his discography includes 16 SLAM CDs. In his solo recordings he has always shown a preference for the short tracks, which he has on occasion referred to as his 'Short Stories'. This studio session, is very much of that character, with 17 tracks of around 3 and 4 minutes - plus, as is not uncommon, the inclusion of a jazz standard, in this case a couple of takes on April in Paris.

Listening to the music on this CD is to hear, in an almost Dickensian flow of characterisation, much of the history not just of jazz but of 20th century music, plus some Romanticism, plus some Baroque, flowing past. Riley in his pomp is also a music historian...Precious moments - Brian Morton.