Eugen Cicero – Swinging Tschaikowsky (1966/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Eugen Cicero – Swinging Tschaikowsky (1966/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 37:31 minutes | 676 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS

The early work of Austrian pianist Eugene Cicero must have been incredibly successful for the MPS/Saba label – as they cut more than a few albums that had him in this format, playing jazzy changes based on classical material by a specific composer!

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Eugen Cicero – Romantic Swing: Eugen Cicero plays Franz Liszt (1968/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Eugen Cicero – Romantic Swing: Eugen Cicero plays Franz Liszt (1968/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 35:31 minutes | 671 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS

A true evaluation of Cicero’s creativity requires not only an appreciation of his tremendous technique but also an ability to listen with the heart. Cicero loved music and he loved his audience. He never played for himself, but for his audiences, which he always succeeded in captivating. His careful selection of originals, prior to each performance, was a pure delight not only for the friends of classical music but also for jazz lovers.

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Eugen Cicero – Rokoko-Jazz (1965/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Eugen Cicero – Rokoko-Jazz (1965/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 32:28 minutes | 576 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS

Pianist (bürgerlich: Ciceu), von dem Deutschen Peter Witte am Baß und dem Schweizer Charly Antolini am Schlagzeug begleitet, versetzt Domenico Scarlatti, Francois Couperin, Mozart und Bach in modegemäßen Swing – nur: Diesmal klingen durch alle Jazz-Entfremdungen die Original -Musiken unverhofft originell hindurch. Ob Mozarts d-Moll -Phantasie oder Bachs Matthäus-Passion – Cicero improvisiert sich jederzeit ehrfurchtsvoll und wohlkonturiert durchs 17. und 18. Jahrhundert. (Saba SB 15027 ST; 21 Mark.)

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Eugen Cicero – In Town (1965/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Eugen Cicero – In Town (1965/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 30:18 minutes | 549 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS

The Romanian Eugen Cicero was a Wunderkind, performing his first piano concert with a symphony orchestra at the age of six. His first SABA/MPS album, Rokoko Jazz sold over a million copies. Cicero was acknowledged as an “all-around entertainer, someone who gives a damn about stylistic borders and takes whatever is useful, from Bach to Cole Porter”. The Cole Porter classic It’s De-Lovely shows the man can swing, and with tips of the hat to Errol Garner and George Shearing, knows his jazz piano. Cicero and the MPS “house rhythm section” of bassist Peter Witte and drummer Charly Antolini display an uncanny empathy throughout. Autumn Leaves sounds as if Schuman’s Kinderscenen might have been played out in Harlem. Und Bach? from Johann Sebastian’s Prelude in C Minor rates as “the most intensive and dynamic of the wave of modern Bach-to-jazz recordings (Joachim E. Berendt). Cicero and co garnish Hello Dolly with the appropriate Broadway treatment; his interpretation of pianist Randy Weston’s Little Niles owes as much to Chopin as to Afro-American jazz, while Por Favor is simply high entertainment. Amazing music by a pianist with the sensibilities of the great classical and jazz interpreters at his fingertips.

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Eugen Cicero, Decebal Badila – Bucharest 1994 (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Eugen Cicero, Decebal Badila - Bucharest 1994 (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

Eugen Cicero, Decebal Badila – Bucharest 1994 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:09:45 minutes | 698 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © IN+OUT Records

With “Bucharest 1994” a very special live event is released on CD, which has created something unique in the mediation between classical music and jazz standards. This is the first concert with exceptional bassist Decebal Badila, which has been under lock and key for 28 years. “Bucharest 1994” contains entertaining and technically challenging material from the early work of a virtuoso musician and the late work of an exceptional artist, whom the jazz world lost far too early.
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Eugen Cicero – Klavierspielereien (1969/2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Eugen Cicero - Klavierspielereien (1969/2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz] Download

Eugen Cicero – Klavierspielereien (1969/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 41:21 minutes | 770 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS

Eugen Cicero, the man known as ‘Mr. Golden Hands’, continues with his masterful mix of jazz and classical styles, once again expertly accompanied by the crack MPS ‘house rhythm section’ of German bassist Peter Witte and Swiss drummer Charly Antolini. For this outing, the Romanian piano maestro selected popular standards from the Great American Songbook and Romanian folksongs. The trio takes Gershwin’s classic I Got Rhythm up-tempo, with Cicero giving the listener some jazz history lessons that includes a masterful stride section. Eugen runs through a potpourri of styles and feelings on his versions of Romanian Folk Songs, and the trio returns for Gershwin’s Summertime, strolling through a garden of musical delights, changing times and tempos as they go. Cicero infuses What Kind of Fool Am I with classic romanticism, chromatic arpeggios, a powerful left-hand walking bass line, and virtuoso finesse, then the trio takes on the evergreen Bye Bye Blackbird in a swinging, bluesy medium groove. Cicero again takes leave of the rhythm section on the next Romanian Folk Song, a piece that begins in a fascinating 3-3-2 time before sliding into some honky-tonk fun. The trio is back for Cicero’s romantic rendition of the ballad My Foolish Heart, and Cicero finishes the set with his exquisite, multifaceted solo version of the popular Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo from the Leslie Caron movie, Lili. A thoroughly enjoyable album and a testament to the exuberant creativity of Eugen Cicero.
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Eugen Cicero – Solo Piano (1978/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Eugen Cicero - Solo Piano (1978/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

Eugen Cicero – Solo Piano (1978/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 59:12 minutes | 531 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © IN+OUT Records

This album by gifted Romanian pianist Eugen Cicero was recorded during Hungary’s Debrecen Jazz Days in September 1978, but the tapes remained in the archives until 2004 when a Slovenian collector discovered them. Cicero was pursuing two aims with this program: first, to use classical piano music as the basic material for swinging improvisations, and second, to present ballads and up-tempo jazz standards, employing the resources of a classical pianist.
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Eugen Cicero & Decebal Badila – Bucharest 1994 (Deluxe Edition) (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Eugen Cicero & Decebal Badila – Bucharest 1994 (Deluxe Edition) (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:26:16 minutes | 867 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © IN+OUT Records

With “Bucharest 1994”, IN+OUT Records presents a very special live event by Eugen Cicero, who has created something unique in his mediation between classical music and jazz standards. This is the first concert with exceptional bassist Decebal Badila, which layed under lock and key for 28 years. The album contains both entertaining, technically demanding and documentarily indispensable material.

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Eugen Cicero – Cicero’s Chopin (1966/2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Eugen Cicero – Cicero’s Chopin (1966/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 34:41 minutes | 597 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS

Born in Romania in 1940, Eugen Cicero performed his first piano concert with a symphony orchestra at the age of six. Abandoning his career as classical concert pianist, Cicero pursued his passion of integrating jazz rhythms, harmonies and improvisation with the music of the classical masters. Cicero recorded over 70 albums, and performed with such prestigious orchestras as the Berlin and Munich Philharmonic. His first SABA/MPS album, Rokoko Jazz sold over a million copies.

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Eugen Cicero – Balkan Rhapsodie (1970/2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Eugen Cicero – Balkan Rhapsodie (1970/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 36:28 minutes | 659 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS

Romanian Eugen Cicero performed his first piano concert with a symphony orchestra at the age of six. His first SABA/MPS album, Rokoko Jazz sold over a million copies. Known for his rhapsodic style, Cicero was acknowledged as an “all-around entertainer, someone who gives a damn about stylistic borders and takes whatever is useful, from Bach to Cole Porter”. Cicero’s pristine technique and ability to meld the stringent demands of classical with the exploratory improvisation of jazz assured him a large international audience, as attested by this, his seventh MPS album. Austrian Hans Rettenbacher was known among musicians as a consummate bassist. He worked in Europe with the likes of Eric Dolphy, Don Ellis, and Friedrich Gulda. MPS’s unofficial ‘house drummer’ Swiss drummer Charly Antolini worked often with Cicero, and is well-known for his own band. The two fit hand-in-glove with Cicero’s free-wheeling style. The compositions are all Cicero’s with virtually every piece a colorful mélange of tempo changes, references to pop tunes, jazz standards, folk, and the classics played with verve, humor, and fantasy.

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