Earth Stories

The album was produced by Yves Beauvais and Chestnut.^[6] Chestnut had originally envisioned a sextet recording before deciding that he wanted to be the prime mover of the music.^[7][8] He was backed by Alvester Garnett on drums and Steve Kirby on bass.^[9] He wrote nine of the album's 11 songs.^[10] Chestnut felt that the songs, in their different styles, were reflective of his personal history and his interest in the blues.^[11][12] He labeled "Cooldaddy's Perspective" "acoustic funk"; the horn section on the song included the saxophonists Steve Carrington and Antonio Hart and the trumpeter Eddie Allen.^[13][6] "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" includes a phrase from Barry Harris's "Nascimento".^[14] "Nutman's Invention #1" is played in a ragtime style.^[15] "In the Garden" is a version of the traditional spiritual.^[16]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[17]
The Buffalo News	[18]
Fort Worth Star-Telegram	[19]
Los Angeles Times	[20]
MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide	[6]
New York Daily News	[21]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[22]
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide	[14]

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The Los Angeles Times said that "the pianist plays with a drive that is enriched by his superb command of the keyboard... [he] moves comfortably throughout from simple melody to rhapsodic virtuosity."^[20] The Globe and Mail called Chestnut "a robust, hard-swinging pianist who gets around the keyboard very handily, though not always with particular finesse."^[23] The Times Colonist noted that Chestnut's "ballad readings carry a bluesy emotional wallop, and his upbeat compositions are propelled by rhythmically inventive, texturally sublime keyboard offerings."^[16] The New York Times stated that "Chestnut is after swing, the thrill of improvisation and blues tonality."^[12] The Washington Post deemed Earth Stories "the year's best jazz instrumental album".^[24]