In Town (Remastered) Eugen Cicero

• 1 It's De-Lovely 04:44
• 2 Autumn Leaves 06:21
• 3 Und Bach? 04:00
• 4 Hello Dolly 06:04
• 5 Little Niles 05:31
• 6 Por Favor 03:35
• Total Runtime 30:15

Info for In Town (Remastered)

The Romanian Eugen Cicero was a Wunderkind, performing his first piano concert with a symphony orchestra at the age of six. His first SABA/MPS album, Rokoko Jazz sold over a million copies. Cicero was acknowledged as an “all-around entertainer, someone who gives a damn about stylistic borders and takes whatever is useful, from Bach to Cole Porter”. The Cole Porter classic It’s De-Lovely shows the man can swing, and with tips of the hat to Errol Garner and George Shearing, knows his jazz piano. Cicero and the MPS “house rhythm section” of bassist Peter Witte and drummer Charly Antolini display an uncanny empathy throughout. Autumn Leaves sounds as if Schuman’s Kinderscenen might have been played out in Harlem. Und Bach? from Johann Sebastian’s Prelude in C Minor rates as “the most intensive and dynamic of the wave of modern Bach-to-jazz recordings (Joachim E. Berendt). Cicero and co garnish Hello Dolly with the appropriate Broadway treatment; his interpretation of pianist Randy Weston’s Little Niles owes as much to Chopin as to Afro-American jazz, while Por Favor is simply high entertainment. Amazing music by a pianist with the sensibilities of the great classical and jazz interpreters at his fingertips.

Eugen Cicero, piano
Peter Witte, bass
Charly Antolini, drums

Engineered by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Produced by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer

Digitally remastered

Eugen Cicero
of Romanian-Hungarian descent, was born in Cluj-Napoca (Klausenburg), Romania, on June 26, 1940. His remarkable musical aptitude manifested itself at a very early age. He started taking piano lessons at the age of four and was taught by some of the country's most renowned teachers. He owed his brilliantly sensitive touch to the instruction he received from Aurelia Cionca, while Ana Pitis initiated him into the virtuoso tradition, as personified by Franz Liszt.

In addition, Cicero studied instrumentation and composition at the National Conservatory in Bucharest. However, neither the prospect of an academic career nor that of becoming a conventional concert pianist appealed to him. He saw these roles as much too restrictive. The key musical philosophy for Cicero was to be receptive towards everything new and to maintain a free spirit in developing his art.

Growing up in a communist country, he found swing music to be a magical source of inspiration. It was therefore almost invitable that his first concert tour in the sixties took him West to Berlin to be exact the melting pot of European jazz. There, Cicero encountered musicians with a multitude of different styles, and, thanks to his well-honed powers of perception, he was able to adapt some of these to his own musical approach. Soon his personal style crystallized into the so-called Classic-Swing idiom, forging a harmonious link between classical music and mainstream jazz.

The response to Cicero's distinctive keyboard work was an immediate, widespread and enthusiastic one. His recipe for success was to introduce into exquisite baroque, classical and romantic compositions an infectious swing and sophisticated harmonies, and his gifted and dextrous hands transformed these works into timeless masterpieces.

Many musicians had already sought to combine the classical and jazz idioms, but none of them could match Cicero's ability to draw on a rich fund of knowledge and extraordinary technical expertise to achieve such an inspired synthesis. Cicero was, without question, the leading exponent of the so-called Classic-Swing style.

A true evaluation of Cicero's creativity requires not only an appreciation of his tremendous technique but also an ability to listen with the heart. Cicero loved music and he loved his audience. He never played for himself, but for his audiences, which he always succeeded in captivating. His careful selection of originals, prior to each performance, was a pure delight not only for the friends of classical music but also for jazz lovers.

Above all, however, it was the spontaneity and improvisational flair with which he presented his interpretations that transformed each of his concerts into a work of musical art something which is rarely to be experienced in the concert hall today.

In 1976 Eugen Cicero was awarded a German Schallplatten Preis for his arrangements of compositions by Franz Schubert. In addition to more than 70 recordings and numerous domestic and foreign TV appearances, he made pioneering recordings with the Berlin and Munich Philharmonic orchestras. He also toured Japan, a country where he achieved cult status thanks to his thousands of dedicated and loyal fans. It was not easy for critics to categorise Eugen Cicero's playing. The designation 'golden hands', which was attributed to him throughout his career, was an indication that both music lovers and critics valued his consistently high level of performance, especially at times of radical change in the music scene. Even now, after more than 40 years, the name of Eugen Cicero stands for amazing pianistic virtuosity, phenomenal rhythmic feeling and an inexhaustibly inventive genius. (Lisa Boulton, Villingen)

This album contains no booklet.