5 Steps to Dankworth
1. Export Blues
2. Somerset Morn
3. Just A-Sittin’ And A-Rockin’
4. One For Janet
5. Somebody Loves Me
6. Hullabaloo
7. Horoscope
8. Stompin’ at the Savoy
9. Magenta Midget
10. Limehouse Blues
Bonus Tracks
11. Firth of Fourths
12. Coquette
Journey Into Jazz
13. Adios
14. Jersey Bounce
15. Take the ‘A’ Train
Itinerary of An Orchestra
16. Speech - Johnny Dankworth's Introduction
17. First Section (1st Theme)
18. Second Section (2nd and 3rd themes)
19. Third Section (inc. slow movement)
20. Fourth Section (finale)
I am old enough to remember
Johnny Dankworth before he became a bit posh
and changed his name to John Dankworth. He
was an important figure in the development
of British modern jazz, not only because of
his ability as an alto-saxist and clarinettist
as well as composer and arranger, but also
because his groups nurtured many of the up-and-coming
jazz players who were to become stalwarts
on the jazz scene for many years. The Johnny
Dankworth Seven, which lasted from 1950 to
1953, included such great names as Cleo Laine,
Jimmy Deuchar, Don Rendell, Bill Le Sage and
Tony Kinsey.
After the Johnny Dankworth
Seven broke up, Johnny's agent suggested that
he should form a big band. This CD contains
two of that band's albums plus a couple of
bonus tracks, all recorded in the mid-1950s.
Like the Seven, the big band was full of prestigious
British jazzers, including Danny Moss, Tommy
Whittle, Dave Lee and Kenny Clare. Although
there were several other big bands touring
Britain at the time, the Dankworth ensemble
was more predominantly a jazz group than most
of the others. Even though their nearest rival,
Ted Heath's band, often played jazz, it sometimes
tended to be more populist than Dankworth's.
This is not to say that Johnny couldn't be
commercial when it suited him - in 1961 his
big band had a hit with African Waltz,
which stayed in the British pop charts for
21 weeks. This recording was preceded by Dankworth's
other chart hit - the gloriously parodic Experiments
With Mice in 1956.
The tracks on this CD illustrate
the composing and arranging talents of Dankworth
and fellow-arranger Dave Lindup. But their
main appeal is in the many splendid jazz solos
by members of the band. For instance, the
first track (Export Blues) features
fine solos from Dankworth's pure-toned alto,
Danny Moss's punchy tenor and Dave Lee's piano.
The big-band tracks are interspersed with
tasteful small-group recordings led by trombonist
Laurie Monk and trumpeter Dickie Hawdon.
The other original album,
Journey into Jazz, contains three jazz
standards and Johnny's long suite entitled
Itinerary of an Orchestra. Inspired
by Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide
to the Orchestra, this takes us on a guided
tour of the jazz orchestra and its instruments,
with variations on a theme that resembles
Frankie and Johnny. It uses some interesting
orchestration, some of it clearly influenced
by Duke Ellington. Newcomers to jazz will
learn something of the different timbres available
to jazz groups, although the individual instruments
are not clearly defined. Throughout this piece
- and, indeed, the whole CD - Kenny Clare's
drumming is a source of great strength.
I don't know if the Vocalion
people realise that the Avid label has already
reissued these two albums, along with Cleo
Laine's She's the Tops, on a double
CD which retails at £6.99. Let's hope this
doesn't have a deleterious effect on the success
of this reissue, which is also very reasonably
priced.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Vocalion
CDNJT 5303
