I heard the music first in a small Jazz Club in Germany. This CD will always be a memory of a fantastic concert.

The music is excellent. Starting off with Swanee River Rock. I really liked Do you know what it meand to miss New Orleans. The rest of the tracks are excellent.

On this mostly solo effort, Chicago piano great Helfer not only revels in the great American Three Bs (Blues, Barrelhouse and Boogie-Woogie), but he also reveals a tremendous talent for interpreting material that is sad, sorrowful, wistful, and in the immortal words of Bobby "Blue" Bland, "downheated and blue". On the two performances that are indebted to perhaps the greatest Kansas City stylist of all time, Pete Johnson, Helfer is as rollicking and left handed as he can be. Though I find that quite often, his playing is graceful and stately, and it reminds me of Mary Lou Williams, especially her solo version of Little Joe From Chicago. But when he approaches material that is emotionally insightful, no matter how sad and blue the music, Helfer's playing always leaves a touch of hope. His most sorrowful 'stories' end with a smile, or at least with the recognition that tomorrow is another day. Part of this is due to his touch on the piano: he mixes clarity with sprite-like and impish moods to produce voicings that have the radiance of Dino Lupati playing Chopin; and that bring introspection, thoughtfulness and the elegaic to what would usually hyst be sorrowful musings. His rendition of the bittersweet classic, Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans, is as inventive and sophisticated a version as has ever been recorded; and throughout the performance, he leavens the whistful melody and chorus with flashes of the genius of Teddy Wilson and Erroll Garner! The four duets with tenor sax player John Brumbach have a decidedly modern sound and feel, and remind me of Al Cohn or Zoot Sims playing with Jimmy Rowles. The overall sound quality of the CD is quite excellent, and this disc should immediately appeal to fans of blues and jazz piano.

A good combination of music that every one would like that enjoyes music.