Chris is an AMAZING pianist. I’ve never been so moved by ballads. He’s played with legends (Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, Gene Ammons, Clifford Brown, Stan Getz) and he’s become a legend. Chris’ most famous student, Herbie Hancock, testifies: “Chris Anderson is a master of harmony and sensitivity…After hearing him play just once, I begged him to let me study with him…” His sound is utterly unique. “Imagine the lushness of Ellington, the off-centered cadences of Monk, and the harmonic inventiveness of Debussy mixed with a potent scent of the blues,” according to Fred Kaplan. We’ve captured Chris’ spacious, beautifully sustained chords with warm, ultra-detailed sound. (#56922)

Chris Anderson, piano/vocals

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Fanfare:
reviewed by Andrew Sussman

When describing Chris Anderson, the term obscurity acquires new meaning. Blind, crippled, and reclusive, he's been playing for more than fifty years, living in New York for the past thirty while rarely performing in public, yet gaining a small and intensely loyal following among knowledgeable musicians who consider him a mentor Ü most notably Herbie Hancock and Clifford Jordan. Love Locked Out (Mapleshade 56922, [AAD], 58:29, available from 2301 Crain Highway, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774) is a solo album, and as such it captures his quietly personal harmonic sensitivity, full of heartfelt emotion, which seems to echo the tragedy of the human condition. There is a natural intensity and rawness in his playing which is especially appealing, and which carries over to the two vocals, unpolished but endearing. Not an album for those who need to be dazzled by technique, this is an introspective, meditative journey through the music of a neglected master.

July/August 1992