Whether you became aware of Twardzik ages ago or through the recently re-released Pacific Jazz set, you’ll be intrigued by his previously unsuspected home-recording. Suddenly, with the recent reissue of the Serge Chaloff “Fable of Mabel” (and provided you can still get the session with Chet Baker), all of Twardzik’s will-of-the-wisp output is available simultaneously.

Quirky is the word that always comes to mind for his compositional approach, as opposed to the more satirical and more serious Monk, whom he occasionally resembles. The opening track might be superficially comparable to Monk’s “Chordially” warmup on Black Lion, but it’s less experimental and soon develops into a medley of “Yesterdays” (quite different from the track seven duo version) plus a few bars each of the Twardzik originals “Albuquerque Social Swim” and “A Crutch for the Crab.” These and two of the standards here appear fully-fledged on the Pacific Jazz Trio session, for which this may have been a rehearsal — when the draggy bass player joins in, Twardzik can be heard blaming the drummer — but the performances are looser and more approximate. It’s notable too how much more Bud Powell there is in the keyboard work here. (Brian Priestly, Wire Magazine)