Leaving
The new live solo piano album by Richie on Jazzline Records. His first solo piano recording of jazz standards in a long time.
Recorded in a live concert at Château Fleur Cardinale in Saint-Etienne-de-Lisse, in the St. Emilion region near Bordeaux, France, the album consists of mostly jazz standards and two of Richie’s classic originals.
“Live recording is a very different experience for me from a studio recording. For example: you
can not stop during a live recording! Glenn Gould always talked about the non-take two-ness of a live recording. Glenn hated playing live and retired from playing concerts as soon as he could.
I don’t agree with that at all, I love it. I love the people there, I want them to have an experience with me. At this concert, the audience came with me. There were tears, there were shouts, and there was a standing ovation.”
Richie's interview with Charles Rees about Leaving in the London Jazz News
LondonJazz News: Did you go into this performance intending to record an album, or was it your response after listening back to the recording?
Richie Beirach: Yes, it was going to be a solo piano recording from the beginning. What happened was my friend Jean-Jacques Quesada books gigs in these very fancy chateaus in Bordeaux. He told me about this young couple in Saint-Emilion who own a fantastic chateau – it’s been in the family for years…
The critics speak
When I first thought about what material to perform and record at this concert, I was thinking about all free improvisations or all of my original compositions.
But than I realized what would be more interesting, because I had never done it before, would be a concert with all standards, and two of my compositions as an encore. These standards I grew up playing, and that I still love to play.
These standards I chose are not obscure, but these are rather the chestnut warhorses that are very familiar to jazz listeners around the world.
Track List
- Nardis (Bill Evans) 7:50
- What Is This Thing Called Love? (Cole Porter) 14:22
Alone Together (Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz)
Blue in Green (Bill Evans, Miles Davis) - Round Midnight (Thelonious Monk) 5:08
- On Green Dolphin Street (Bronislaw Kaper) 4:53
- Some Other Time (Leonard Bernstein) 7:35
- Solar (Miles Davis) 6:24
- Spring Is Here (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) 13:48
Maiden Voyage (Herbie Hancock)
Monk’s Dream (Thelonious Monk)
You Don’t Know What Love Is (Gene de Paul) - Footprints (Wayne Shorter) 3:44
- Leaving (Richie Beirach) 13:43
Sunday Song (Richie Beirach)
