Review

Louis Landon is a talented musician based here in Upstate New York. In recent years, he's performed solo and with small jazz ensembles at clubs and various cultural institutions and/or events. (For purposes, of full disclosure, I hired Louis myself for a weekend event at the library where I work.) Live, Louis is remarkable. For our event, he did a program of Cole Porter and Gershwin songs--along with a fair sampling of his originals. Louis is an excellent pianist and a smooth, polished singer. The comparisons to Harry Connick, such as posted above, are apt enough, I guess, but actually, Louis is notably less mannered than Connick or any number of other similar performers.

It's a bit of a shame, really, that Louis is not particularly well-known. He has toured with a number of prominent acts (including John Hall) and has certainly gained respect among his peers. In terms of the limited number of cultural offerings, my library can offer, I must say that Louis was one of the highlights of recent years.

The compositions on this CD are all Louis' own, and they exhibit the same level of musicianship and sense of style that he demonstrated in live performance. True to the CD's title, the songs are mostly love--and many seem to be inspired by his real life wife, of whom he often speaks affectionately in concert. There is really only one somebody-done-me-wrong song, and that it saved for the next-to-last. Mostly, the tone is upbeat, sweet and light. It's a satisfying mix, although I did miss the occasional irony and sophisticated wordplay present in the Porter numbers he performed live.

But, then, no one writes 'em like that anymore. Louis Landon writes beautiful melodies and is a first-rate pianist. If he ever did hook up with a lyricist that had a bit more of a bite than he, by nature, possesses, he'd likely produce even more polished and memorable music. But I don't hesitate to recommend this one for now. He's got a lot of heart, this guy, and his music is worth checking out

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