For those unaware, pianist Billy Lester is a late-bloomer on that reticent branch of the jazz tree, the school of Lennie Tristano.

An instinctively lyrical yet unfettered improviser who creates original compositions from variations on classic American songs’ chord changes, Lester - like his mentor Sal Mosca, one of Tristano’s most acclaimed students - has developed his art almost in private.

A youthful prodigy who was playing by age four, the soft-spoken, self-questioning Lester has taught piano for decades in his hometown of Yonkers just beyond New York City’s limits and devotes himself to family life. But with children now grown, at age 52 he’s felt the yen to gig, and finds the public stage surprisingly rewarding.

The pianist now gives us his brand new album entitled High Standards, where he has created his very original versions of eight vintage classics. The virtuosic pianist transforms and reinvents the standards with his trio in surprising ways.

1. There Will Never Be Another You
2. Somebody Loves Me
3. What Is This Thing Called Love?
4. I’ll Remember April
5. You Go to My Head
6. Just Friends
7. Out of Nowhere
8. Lover, Come Back to Me
9. Free Improvisation

This mindfully sculpted new recording opens on the joyfully groovy There Will Never Be Another You and then we get the emboldened Somebody Loves Me, the languishing at times, curiously optimistic What Is This Thing Called Love? and then the fervently sculpted I’ll Remember April comes along.

On an album that exudes an impassioned mindfulness, along next is the seductively elegant You Go to My Head which is in turn backed seamlessly by the playfully perky Just Friends, the confident Out of Nowhere, the set rounding out on the free-flowing melodies within Lover, Come Back to Me, closing on the stridently cultured Free Improvisation.

Musicians:
Piano: BILLY LESTER
Bass: MARCELLO TESTA
Drums: NICOLA STRANIERI

Official Website