Tete Montoliu - Catalonian Folksongs (2015)

For this set of piano solos, Tete Montoliu (a native of Spain who, if he had played regularly in the U.S., would have been much more famous in the jazz world) plays lyrical versions of ten obscure songs, most of which were composed by the Spanish singer-guitarist Juan Manuel Serrat. The melodies are sometimes haunting, sometimes just sentimental, but Montoliu consistently brings out their beauty during his concise interpretations. This import from the Dutch Timeless label was made available by Muse for a time in a 1979 LP. ~ Scott Yanow