I Lost My Gal From Memphis
Down Among The Sugar Cane
My Sweet Tooth Says I Wanna
That Rhythm Man
An Evening In Caroline
I Believe In Miracles
Hello Baby
T’ain’t No Sin
Please
Harlem Madness
If You Don’t Love Me
Washboard Blues (piano solo)
Cheerful Little Earful
Rhythm King
Let’s Pretend There’s A Moon
Old Man Sunshine, Little Boy Bluebird
Think Of Me, Thinking Of You
Goodnight Angel
This is the first WVR I’ve
come across but it won’t be the last as I’m
reviewing a brother disc. It teams Spats Langham
with some regular partners – I’ve already
reviewed his summit meetings with Norman Field
and Keith Nichols on this site – in classic
jazz and hot dance music that takes in popular
numbers and more esoteric tunes with equal
aplomb. I’ve noted before the stylistic versatility
inherent in these kinds of performances so
in the first track I Lost My Gal From Memphis,
for instance, we find Nichols mining Willie
"the Lion" Smith and the impressive
trombonist Paul Munnery taking on Tricky Sam
Nanton’s role. There’s also a vivid banjo
solo from Langham.
Moments of pleasure abound
in this well crafted and expertly researched
disc, complete with first class arrangements.
Trumpeter Mike Durham, who also writes the
booklet notes, plays a firm lead in That
Rhythm Man in which Munnery’s righteous
preaching is an arresting sound. Nichols sings
on this one and Pete Soulsby kicks the rhythm
with swinging vitality. Influences on the
band, apart from things Ellingtonian, include
Ted Lewis, Fats Waller, Bing Crosby the Goofus
Six and its satellite bands, Bix and Tram
and their circle and others less well known.
The intelligent arrangements ensure that each
song is treated on its merits. There’s a Nichols
tribute to Fats on I Believe In Miracles
where Langham’s bluesy guitar hints add
strongly to the atmosphere and of course Norman
Field features prominently – hear his rhythmically
pointed and lyrical playing on the title track.
There are splashes of percussive colour -
period chiaroscuro - that attests to the absorption
of fine models; Vic Berton’s drumming for
example, or the brass bass and bass players
who influenced the excellent Frans Sjöström
and John C. Hallam respectively.
Plenty of the tracks allow
the band time to stretch out rather more than
is perhaps the norm – longer in fact than
the three minute 78 - and this allows longer
solos and front line exchanges. On Rhythm
King the band evokes Bix and Tram with
unselfconscious brio and here one notes with
pleasure how well Munnery has absorbed Bill
Rank’s playing – and especially his command
of the Rank style in ensembles. Sjöström’s
Rollini inspired playing is also spot-on without
being slavish. Some of Durham’s very best
playing comes in Let’s Pretend There’s
A Moon where he’s full toned and lyric.
There are touches of Teddy Wilson’s fulsome
playing along with the Fats influences in
Nichols’s playing here and some good clarinet
as well.
Langham is a singer of course
and takes the vocal duties extensively; Bing
is a reference point but he also mines more
vaudeville sources as he does in Old Man
Sunshine, Little Boy Bluebird which he
then lards with the Old Groaner’s special
brand of avuncular scatting.
The band has been very well
recorded in the West Jesmond Cornet Museum
– is this a Mike Durham hang-out? - and looks
attractive down to period microphone and Gennett
record label motif. Don’t underestimate the
hard work that goes into a disc such as this,
another most enjoyable one from this fine
stable of musicians.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
WVR 1002 [72:05]
