Album Notes

Jim Gibson grew up in a musical family--his mother was his first piano teacher (starting at about age 4!)--and that probably explains his unique musicality.

Though Jim has degrees in English, he has eared his living as a commercial pianist in Atlanta, the Southeast US, and Italy since the mid-seventies, and has played every conceivable kind of gig from clubs to thousands of social and commercial events. From this extensive experience, he says he's learned one important thing; "People want to hear the melody, and I've learned over the years to simplify, simplify, simplify. It's not easy to leave out the extra notes, but it's important."

Jim has just completed his thirteenth CD for Hickory Cove Music, and tens of thousand of recordings are enjoyed by thousands of people around the world.

What they appreciate in his playing is, in a word, the smoothness that comes from years of training and experience. All his albums are improvised, and tunes move easily from key to key, and from one time signature to another. The effect is relaxing.

Jim carefully chooses songs that have been around for a while, looking especially for tunes that have been popular more than once over the years. "If a song has unusual popularity over time, it's certain that there is something special about it--time will tell what has lasting value. It's those songs--the ones that last and last--that I want to record."

And, that's why Jim's recordings are so well accepted--the songs are long-loved, the playing is extraordinary without being flashy or drawing attention to itself, and the total effect is quiet and calming.