In Billy Mayerl circles Alex Hassan has been a legend for some years. He first made a name for himself as a determined young American collector of popular sheet music and recordings and as an expert in documentation, but it soon became known that he could play this repertoire as well – stunningly. Some say there has been no one to equal him since Mayerl himself. And here he is on CD at last.
He wisely chose not to overlap with existing recordings and also took this opportunity to unveil a real discovery of his own – the complete novelty piano output of Lothar Perl (1911-75), a German counterpart to Billy Mayerl who was obliged to leave Nazi Germany in the mid 1930s and ended up working in Hollywood. The 14 pieces here, composed 1932-4, show that he must have been aware of Mayerl’s 1920s publications but there are plenty of individual touches. Cowboy is one of several tracks in the same key of E flat as The Jazz Master, but is more catchy, and “Rocking Horse” (from Two Toys) which seems to derive from “Cobwebs” in Mayerl’s Three Miniatures, is again in that key. But Perl has a wide range of figurations as well as his own way of suddenly dropping into a different tempo or mood (1'35'' in “Crazy Top”, track 7: 1'07'' in “Ballad” – from the Syncopated Romances – track 12), all adding up to real individuality.
Above all, though, how lucky for Perl to be relaunched with performances of this calibre. The style is impeccable: totally dry for rhythmic passages but legato and controlled for lyrical sections. This is the right approach for much of Mayerl, too, and his four earliest and most demanding song transcriptions are delivered by Hassan with real flair.
Rediscoveries do not stop here. A Carroll Gibbons medley is done in a precise imitation of his style, only a trifle heavy perhaps, and there are more Mayerl transcriptions. To end with, Hassan has chosen ten of Mayerl’s own songs which he did not transcribe himself and these were apparently impromptu performances. The informal atmosphere is maintained in a style which is authentic but not a slavish Mayerl imitation: Hassan is simply projecting these neglected tunes in the most direct way. He loses a bit of the verse in Valse Eugene, but the Savoy Havana number A little love is simply enchanting as is the Gwen Farrar song What you going to do?. So is everything else.
The piano is a bit tinny, but overall this CD is a revelation. Well done Shellwood – and what a scoop the major companies have missed! Everyone with the slightest interest in novelty piano will find this release compulsively enjoyable.'