Brent Laidler - Hidden Gems (2025)

The Pandemic will surely cast a long shadow, and as a radio host I still see new CD’s inspired in some respect by it. My story is also related, but a little more indirect… During the Shut Down I got into the habit of practicing by sight reading through the many old fake books I had accumulated as well as over 14,000 songs on my tablet. I began to come across some really well crafted changes that I thought were beautifully compelling, but to the best of my knowledge never made it into a modern Real Book. It felt like I was discovering “hidden gems.” Some of them were even written by well known Jazz artists but somehow were never included in the “Standards” lexicon. The quality of the compositions is testament to their talents, though. My new project is made up of songs based on these changes in modified/rearranged forms or by sometimes combining two. One is based on a simple riff that everyone knows but I haven’t seen used in an actual tune since a television special from the early 1960’s. By then adding my own original melodies, I hope I’ve created brand new songs that retain the brilliance of the original compositions.