What makes “The Jazz Standards” so engaging is just this sort of anecdotal texture, Gioia’s ability to write as an inhabitant of both the tradition and the songs. He takes us through music that’s well known (“Beale Street Blues,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Mood Indigo,” “Embraceable You”) and not so well known (“Nardis,” “Billie’s Bounce,” “East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)”), but either way, his connection is a starting point. “When I was a very young child,” he recalls, discussing the song “I’ll Remember April,” “I saw the Abbott and Costello movie ‘Ride ‘Em Cowboy’ on several occasions on television, but I have no recollection of ‘I’ll Remember April,’ which was introduced in this unlikely film by Dick Foran. But a decade later, I encountered ‘I’ll Remember April’ again — this time in a version by pianist Erroll Garner from his landmark album ‘Concert by the Sea.'” From there, he riffs briefly about Garner (“I am convinced that a young musician could build a killing style using his tricks and techniques as a foundation”) before highlighting a dozen or so covers by artists including Getz, Keith Jarrett and Frank Sinatra, who recorded it in 1961.
more from David L. Ulin at the LA Times here.