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- Artist: Duck Baker
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1996
- Total Time: 40:35
- Type: Instrumental
- Genre: Jazz
Review
This CD consists entirely of solo fingerstyle guitar renditions of pieces by the legendary Blue Note pianist/composer Herbie Nichols, and as with Nichols' music -- which was nearly always performed in a standard piano/bass/drums trio format -- there is a lot more going on here than the somewhat routine surface suggests. Nichols' compositions have their own sort of ambiguous, hard-to-pin-down harmonic aroma, filled with subtle harmonic twists and soft dissonances, but Baker somehow captures it in these versions even when he detours from the originals. He swings naturally and effortlessly when he wants, but he also takes things outside and gets abstract in his own quiet way, most notably on the remarkable version of "Nick at T's." Folks who are new to Nichols' music would probably find it helpful to know the originals, since Baker rearranges several of them, tosses in quotes from other tunes, and generally does more improvising than the pianist was prone to doing. In any case, this album is a fine piece of work, one with the same type of subtlety and deceptive-sounding ease for which Nichols was/is known. ~ William York, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| The Third World | Herbie Nichols | Duck Baker | (4:02) |
| The Happenings | Herbie Nichols | Duck Baker | (4:34) |
| Lady Sings the Blues | Herbie Nichols | Duck Baker | (5:16) |
| Nick at T's | Herbie Nichols | Duck Baker | (4:46) |
| House Party Starting | Herbie Nichols | Duck Baker | (5:21) |
| 2300 Skiddoo | Herbie Nichols | Duck Baker | (4:00) |
| Portrait of Ucha | Herbie Nichols | Duck Baker | (4:06) |
| 134th St. | Herbie Nichols | Duck Baker | (3:46) |
| Spinning Song | Herbie Nichols | Duck Baker | (4:47) |
