Arguably,
Joe Segal's
Jazz Showcase is to Chicago what
the Village Vanguard is to New York: the city's most legendary and prestigious
jazz club (which isn't to take anything away from
the Green Mill,
the Bop Shop, and other well-respected Windy City
jazz venues).
The Jazz Showcase regularly attracts
jazz's major names, so it isn't surprising that
Delmark would record more than one
Sir Charles Thompson album there. First came 2000's
Robbins' Nest: Live at the Jazz Showcase, then, in 2001,
Delmark recorded and released
I Got Rhythm, which has the same subtitle. This
swing-to-
bop CD finds an 83-year-old
Thompson joined by the same musicians who accompany him on
Robbins' Nest; the veteran pianist forms an acoustic trio with bassist
Ed de Haas and drummer
Charles Braugham, and the trio becomes a quartet when saxman/clarinetist
Eric Schneider is featured on seven selections. Not many surprises occur -- most of the standards that
Thompson picks have been recorded countless times over the years, and his style of playing hasn't changed much since the '40s. But then, no one expects him to reinvent the wheel at 83. While
I Got Rhythm is predictable, it is also pleasing.
Thompson's chops have obviously held up well over the years, and he is as expressive on swinging up-tempo fare (including
"Sometimes I'm Happy," the Gershwin Brothers'
"I Got Rhythm," and
Lester Young's
"Jumpin' With Symphony Sid") as he is on lyrical, introspective performances of well-known
ballads like
"What's New" and
Hoagy Carmichael's
"Stardust" (one of the loveliest songs of the 20th century). Like
Robbins' Nest,
I Got Rhythm: Live at the Jazz Showcase falls short of essential, but is a solid effort that
Thompson's hardcore followers will have no problem appreciating. ~ Alex Henderson