At the heart of cocktail piano music lies the arrangement and the performance. In what other context could the music of Érik Satie, The Beatles, Fats Waller and Rachmaninoff sit so comfortably alongside one another? At first glance some seem more likely candidates than others. Hoagy Carmichael, represented here by ‘Lazy River’, occasionally appeared in films in bit parts as a resident pianist, as he did in in the Martinique gin joint setting of To Have And Have Not; the trademark style of this engaging composer, pianist and singer always sounded very much at home in a bar. In contrast, The Clash might not immediately seem like an ideal musical source for after-work unwinding, but the featured arrangement of their ‘London Calling’ here proves just what a difference presentation can make.

Richard Rodney Bennett’s output included several scores for films resulting in a number of atmospheric pieces designed to establish contrasting moods. Here his ‘Rosemary’s Waltz’ from the much-praised but now little-seen 1962 BBCTV production of Tender Is The Night is one of two of his compositions included.

George Gershwin was a non-stop powerhouse of genre-crossing musical creativity and his haunting slow theme from the famous ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ appears alongside his ‘Prelude No.2’, a piece he described as ‘a sort of blues lullaby’.

The Beatles are represented by five songs, all of them slipping effortlessly into the genre but none more so than the melodic and contemplative ‘And I Love Her’. ‘Pinball Wizard’ by The Who lends itself surprisingly well to cocktail piano treatment, and Norah Jones had already demonstrated how effective pop/country songwriter John D. Loudermilk’s ‘Turn Me On’ might sound in a piano lounge setting. ‘Alfie’ was a 1966 film theme song in which Hal David’s contrite lyric was underscored by Burt Bacharach’s wistful melody. Cilla Black had a big hit with it in the UK despite bringing a rather strident edge to the upper registers. In the US Cher’s version was used in the film and over time the song has become a jazz standard that makes a poignant piano piece.

Jazz is the source of several songs here, with several Billy Strayhorn contributions including ‘Dance Of The Floreadores’, ‘Passion Flower’ and ‘Johnny Come Lately’. Duke Ellington’s ‘Sophisticated Lady’ is a 1932 composition that only later acquired lyrics and his ‘I’m Just A Lucky So-And-So’ was written in 1945 with lyrics by Mack David. Chick Corea’s ‘Now He Sings, Now He Sobs’ was the Grammy Award-winning title track from a definitive 1968 jazz piano trio album. ‘Midnight Sun’ was originally an instrumental composed by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke in 1947, another song only later getting its lyrics added, this time by Johnny Mercer. Like many other songs featured in this collection, it has since become a standard, and not only in jazz circles.

So welcome to this sparkling collection of 45 Cocktail Piano songs. It’s time to relax, sit at the piano and mix your very own favourite playlist!