The Oracle

by Scott YanowOne could excuse Hank Jones if, at the time of The Oracle, the 70-year-old pianist chose to stick to revivalist bop, but the biggest surprise of this very democratic date is how modern he plays. Jones is Monkish on "Blues for CM" and often sounds more like a contemporary of McCoy Tyner than of Bud Powell, whom Hank was actually born six years before. Bassist Dave Holland has nearly as much solo space as Jones (along with contributing three compositions), and drummer Billy Higgins gets more space than usual. If there is any fault to this otherwise flawless CD (which also has some underplayed standards such as "Beautiful Love" and "Yesterdays"), it is that there are no individual features. But the interplay between the three musicians is quite impressive.