Solo Piano

This 1995 Timeless release assembles together on CD two of the Catalonian pianist's finest recordings: 1977's Yellow Dolphin Street and Catalonian Folksongs, recorded just ten months apart. The contrast in Tete Montoliu's styles is very evident. Yellow Dolphin Street is an album of originals and standards that encompass the wide range of Montoliu's playing from the heart of the tradition. Here are readings of Jimmy McHugh's "Where Are You," Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday," and Tadd Dameron's "If You Could See Me Now." These stand in sharp contrast with Montoliu's own knotty, percussively savvy tunes such as "Yellow Dolphin Street" and the hilariously titled "I Hate You." Catalonian Folksongs features only one original composition, the elegantly uncharacteristic "Cigales Al Ven," with its wide-open midrange and striated thirds, along with four by the gloriously anthemic Joan Manuel Serrat and the album's closer, "Ruço" by Lluys Maria Millet. Of the two recordings, the latter is the one that will endure, hopefully forever, with its lush pronouncements, proud strides, and odd-timed rhythmic structures. The lyric side of these tunes is a cross between café music, work songs, and pastoral countryside singalongs. Beautiful stuff.