| Herbie Nichols, a contemporary of Monk, was a pianist-composer with a strangely unemphatic, elusive style. His career was obscure - he spent much of it playing with Dixieland bands, and, despite two records for Blue Note and a sprinkling of other recordings, he's best known today for his composition "Lady Sings the Blues."
Nonetheless, one of the most intriguing discs of 1995 so far has been bassist Buell Neidlinger's Blue Chopsticks (K2B2 3169), featuring Nichols' compositions in surprising arrangements, and with unexpected instrumentation. Richard Greene's bluegrass violin is prominently featured. - Stereophile, Oct. 1995 |