Swinging on a Star (1993)

About this title: When a jazzman is as sentimental as Joe Augustine, he runs the risk of not being taken seriously by bop purists. Such purists will tell you that jazz should never be too sentimental -- they insist that the essence of jazz is musicians playing John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" or Sonny Rollins' "Oleo" as fast as they possibly can and trying to impress you with their mastery of chord changes. But sentimental playing does, in fact, have a place in jazz. It had a place in the 1920s and 1930s; it has a place today. An unaccompanied solo piano outing, 1993's Swinging on a Star is unapologetically ... read more

Tracks:

1. I'll Be Seeing You/As Time Goes By [Fain/Hupfield/Kahal]
2. Stardust [Carmichael/Parish]
3. Memories of You [Blake/Razaf]
4. A Little "R" and "R" [Augustine]
5. Fill My Heart With Song [Augustine]
6. Not Exactly Paris [George/Leonard]
7. Swinging on a Star [Burke/VanHeusen]
8. It's the Talk of the Town [Livingston/Neiburg/]
9. Dream a Little Dream of Me [Andre/Kahn/Schwandt]
10. Blues in the Night [Arlen/Mercer]
11. St. Louis Blues [Handy]
12. God Bless the Child [Herzog/Holiday]
13. Always [Berlin]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.