Improvisers, of course, often like to reference other tunes or enter them, full-out, in hopes of finding undiscovered nooks and crannies in the worn structures of airs and cadences that everyone recognizes. Pianists, like singers, are especially drawn to the gems of the Great American songbook, but when the pianist is Ran Blake, one knows one is in for something different, to say the least.

Although not quite as oddball as guitarist Derek Bailey's plucking, pruning and preening with the shards of deconstructed parts of such repertoire in some of his recordings, Blake does nonetheless dismantle and reconfigure the 14 tunes he covers in this floating, ethereal program of pieces. Setting out with Peter Udell and Tommy Goodman's "Driftwood," a beautiful, serene vehicle for the resonance and nuance an unaccompanied pianoforte is capable of, Blake lays down some soulful renditions that are also musically sophisticated in many ways.

Some of those ways have to do with how he lets the melodies drip from his fingers like paint, or the way he soft-pedals and sustains harmonies in overlays of wash creating a textured effect. He also makes creative use of the thematic, intervallic and rhythmic materials that have yielded many great performances over the decades. We're talking about well-known chestnuts like "Dancing in the Dark," "Unforgettable," "I Loves you Porgy" and "You are My Sunshine." These are tunes that will strike up echoes in most listeners of a backlog of memories, so it takes a sensitive player with a vivid imagination to bring these off and stamp them with something memorable. Blake rises to the occasion and the listener is better off for it.