Days of Wine and Roses (The Classic Songs of Henry Mancini)

Michael Lang has worked as a studio pianist for over 30 years, but despite his obvious talent, he had never led a jazz record date until the release of this CD. The theme of the album (which is subtitled The Classic Songs of Henry Mancini) is certainly a challenging one, for other than "Days of Wine and Roses" (which Lang takes as the leadoff tune), none of Mancini's compositions became jazz standards; after all, these songs were written specifically for the movies and not for the improvising musician. The repertoire, other than "Charade" and "Moon River," is dominated by obscurities such as "Whistling Away the Dark" (from Darling Lili), "Tom's Theme" (used in The Glass Menagerie), and "The Sweetheart Tree" (from The Great Race). Six of the songs are taken as piano solos, while the other pieces have either Chuck Domanico or Dave Carpenter on bass and Harvey Mason or Joel Taylor on drums assisting Lang. Among the better transformations are turning "Dear Heart" into a soulful ballad, making a hard swinger out of "It's Easy to Say" (from 10), giving "Charade" a Latin feel, and creating an introspective treatment to "Moon River." Some of the melodies are less interesting than others and there are more moody ballads than romps, but in general Michael Lang uplifts the material and turns it successfully into jazz.