George Cables: My Muse

Pianist George Cables has been one of the most sought-after sidemen in jazz for more than four decades. His versatile playing and ability to bring out the best in any group's sound have made him indispensable to artists like Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and Sonny Rollins. In the 70s, Cables worked mostly on the West Coast in bands led by Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Art Pepper, Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard, and finished that decade with a two-year stint as Dexter Gordon's pianist. Having absorbed a huge variety of sounds and styles and incorporated them into his playing -- from harmonically adventurous post-bop to gospel-tinged blues -- Cables mines a mother lode of jazz elements on My Muse, his newest HighNote release, fusing Bud Powell's feeling, Fats Waller's juke joint geniality and Art Tatum's quick wit into his own persuasive utterances. Cables' searching and intense interpretations use the source material as a jumping-off point for his unique and quirky improvisations, and his writing is more profound and more expressive than ever.

Price: $21.98