Three Piano Crossover

MARIAN McPARTLAND's virtuoso performance at the piano has won her international status as one of the most important figures in jazz today.  She has played with virtually every jazz star of her generation on recordings from her own record company, Halcyon, or on her National Public Radio show, Piano Jazz, now in its 25th season.  Her career is studded with awards, notably the prestigious Peabody Award and Downbeat's Lifetime Achievement Award.  She honed her personal style at the piano at some of New York's most well known cabarets and has since appeared on the PBS and the A&E networks. Her jazz compositions have been recorded and are considered classics of the genre by the most renowned jazz artists and critics.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune  REVIEW

When Ruth Laredo, Marian McPartland, and Dick Hyman take their spots behind three pianos the array of sounds that follows will be all about breaking down barriers and allowing music - no matter what its classification - to speak on its own terms.
     Jazz?  Classical?  It's of no concern to the trio who will erase the already-often-blurred divisions between styles of music, moving swiftly from Chopin and Rachmaninoff to a bossa nova number.
     "It allows us to present music without a division," Hyman said from his home in Venice.  "Really, the line is hard to draw at times, because there are improvisations that we sometimes do which aren't exactly in the concept of jazz, and there are classical pieces that Ruth does which we find are made up of the very stuff we like."
     Said McPartland:  "I've never seen anything quite like this, which is two dyed-in-the-wool jazz people and one very well-known classical pianist."
     The latter would be Laredo.  A three-time Grammy nominee, Laredo is best known for her interpretations of Stravinsky, Mozart and Beethoven, as well as for conducting her "Concerts and Commentary" series for the past (twelve) years at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.  
          Laredo combined forces with Hyman and McPartland previously at the 92nd Street Y, where Hyman conducts the popular jazz in July concert series each summer.
     Hyman and Laredo recently played together in Billings, Mont., and McPartland has included her as a guest on her National Public Radio show, "Piano Jazz."  She forced Laredo to stray from her favored medium then, too.  "I was the first classical artist on her show and she made me improvise on the radio," Laredo said.  "I said, 'Ah, I'll do it.'  when I can't hide."
     Both Hyman and McPartland take Laredo's playful angst at switching mediums in good humor.  The threesome may seem like an odd combo, but not once they begin playing.
     Laredo said the trio will typically perform a three-piano set piece at the conclusion of one set, gliding gently from Duke Ellington to Thelonius Monk to Scriabin.  She compared it to a nightclub setting, allowing her to converse with the audience about the history of music.

- Sarasota Herald-Tribune