Pianist Stanley Cowell celebrates the release of his new recording No Illusions. Reviewing a recent performance, the New York Times reported, “Mr. Cowell is a bit unclassifiable, and jazz has a lot of use for his curiosity and challenge and friction, as well as his virtuosity.” The Washington Post adds, “Listening to him, it’s always easy to become fascinated by the sound of two hands improvising independently, the right swift and fluid, the left vigorous and contrapuntal. At times Cowell conjured the golden age of Harlem ‘ticklers’ or flashed Art Tatum-like flourishes amid evocative blues riffs and gospel chords. And yet his sophisticated sense of harmony was consistently fresh, inventive and surprising.”