Valerie Capers

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Review:

This is the fifty seventh in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.

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An excellent straight ahead jazz pianist who made too few recordings in her career (only leading five albums to date), Valerie Capers studied classical music (learning to read Braille after she lost her sight when she was six), studied at Juilliard, and gravitated to jazz by 1960.

Inspired by her brother, saxophonist Bobby Capers, she formed her own trio, made her first album in 1966 and became an important educator.

This LiveStream from June 26, 2020 teams her with her longtime bassist John Robinson III., performing a relaxed version of Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” a swinging rendition of Steven Sondheim’s “Anyone Can Whistle,” Horace Silver’s “Doodlin’,” and Jobim’s “One Note Samba.”

The playing is excellent, swings, and serves as a fine introduction to Valerie Capers.

-Scott Yanow

You can follow Valerie Capers here.