French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier (think the spelling is at least close...) made a name for himself by arranging well known classical pieces for jazz trio, performed by him on piano, with a drummer and acoustic bass. Perhaps his most famous interpretations were of Bach preludes and fugues. While it perhaps sounds a big gimmicky, I found them inspired and wonderful fun and when I was lucky enough to the Jacques Loussier Trio perform in Guernsey earlier this year was absolutely enthralled. I highly recommend seeing or hearing him and trio if you get the chance. Of course, the point of all this preamble is to say that Earl Rose's quartet of musicians (Rose on piano, Jesse Levy on cello, James Aporito on drums and Jay Leonhart on bass) have done pretty much the same thing with some of the most famous songs to eminate from the House of Mouse. I would confess that the inherent difficulty of performing Disney songs does not really match that of performing Bach, but this is certainly a pleasing and entertaining album.
There is a roughly fifty-fifty split between new Disney (Menken and co. from the 1990's) and "classic" Disney (most of the composers names I don't recognise at all I'm afraid). I suppose it's easier to guess what an intimate jazz arrangement of a song might be like compared to something more classical, but that does not make the selections any less interesting. The romantic songs are invariably given some gorgeous cello counterpoint, most notably Colors of the Wind (Colours of the Wind if you're British) and also in Someday from the underrated Hunchback of Notre Dame. Rose does some great improvising around the more lively numbers, particularly the thoroughly joyous performance of Under the Sea. One of my favourites, however, has got to be Go the Distance, which is perhaps the song most difficult to imagine as a jazz instrumental, but works remarkably well and gets the album off to a flying start.
This isn't for everyone and I was fairly skeptical before acquiring it, but am pleased I did since it's very entertaining and makes for a nice change of pace from the latest full blown orchestral score. The recording and performances are wonderful, this is evidently an album that was put together almost just for fun and this shines through every minute. Very much recommended.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 55:38