Wallace Roney: The Way You Look Tonight

There is always a risk in taking an originally slow song at top speed without even playing the melody. Why use a good tune as a mere bunch of chords to ride them frantically? Wallace Roney avoids this danger by playing the melody alone with the bass as an introduction, with a beautiful sound and a phrasing that shows a tender soul. Then the group joins in for an impressive tour de force powered by Cindy Blackman's dynamic drumming. But the atmosphere of the intro somehow lingers on and keeps the whole thing within the boundaries of its original feeling.