Bethlehem After Dark

Bethlehem After Dark

Butch Thompson's piano playing and Laura Sewell's cello work combine in an unusual album of sparse yet complete reinterpretations of known and less familiar hymns, carols, and, given Thompson's renown as one of the nation's leading stride pianists, rags. Add Sewell's acclaimed reputation as the founder of the Lark Quartet and you have a dynamic and quite original series of Christmas duets. The ivory master gets to show off some of his delightful prowess in such tunes as "Joy to the World," "At the Christmas Ball" (the old Bessie Smith knockout), the "Reindeer Rag," and "Snowy Mountain Blues." But in arrangements that feature Sewell's warm and steadfast cello playing (her "Ave Maria" lead is achingly beautiful), both musicians seem to drive the other for the most splendid results. The delicacy of carols such as "Lo, How a Rose," or the sweet essence of "Softly and Tenderly" against an almost blessed existential reading of "I Wonder as I Wonder," and the down-home feeling of James P. Johnson's "Snowy Morning Blues" make all these tunes sound freshly minted. These two make beautiful music together, with pieces to please both lovers of serious chamber music and devotees of barroom blues. --Martin Keller

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