Let’s Get Together
Non-Stop Flight
All or Nothing at all
Don’t be that way
At Last
Honeysuckle Rose
Moon Glow
No Love, No Nothin’
Amapola
Maria My Own
Manha de Carnaval
There Goes My Heart
Jungle Dreams
Autumn Serenade
Lover, Come Back To Me
Yours
I Guess I’ll Have To Dream The Rest
Slap That Bass
What is this Thing Called Love?
Let’s take the Long Way Home
At Sundown
That fine Australian clarinettist
Don Burrows, a pioneering jazz musician in
his native country and one who’s worked with
the cream of international stars, joins with
the Mell-o-Tones and Philip Sametz for some
engaging swing. You can characterise the band
as a repertory one; they employ "period"
vocals that owe something to Sinatra and his
contemporaries, sometimes it’s true some of
the more schmaltzy ones – Philip Sametz fulfilling
both roles. But they add some neat touches;
there’s a cornet soloist, Geoff Power, and
a violinist, Rosemary Byron whose obbligatos
add colour and interest.
Burrows has been a guest
soloist with the band before and they work
well together. He’s an impressive clarinettist,
managing to display a mastery of an intransigent
instrument even in his late seventies. The
arrangements are many and various but it’s
good to see Jack Mason’s 1940s charts get
an airing – not least No Love, No Nothin’
which has apparently never been recorded before.
Equally it’s good to hear
the languid rhythm of the "Interlude"
features of Manha de Carnaval and There
Goes My Heart. There are numerous nods
throughout to Artie Shaw, of course, and whilst
there’s no real attempt to replicate Shaw’s
sense of restless innovation, the band certainly
pays due homage. Note Burrows’ splendid work
on Walter Donaldson’s At Sundown, where
his upper register work is untroubled by the
registral demands.
There are good band solos
from trombonist Jim Elliott and from Glenn
Henrich whose doubling on vibes is greatly
to the band’s advantage.
There are full notes with
good paragraphs on the songs, on arrangers
and their arrangements and the lyrics are
given as well – a good touch. ABC is good
at this in their Classical division and it’s
good to see that they’re equally discriminating
across the board.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
ABC JAZZ 982 9885 [75.34]
