1. Just One of Those Things
2. Ev´ry Time We Say Goodbye
3. Meta Blue
4. New Orleans
5. The Best Thing For You
6. Nicki´s Journey
7. Django´s Dream
8. Little Bix
9. Chega de Saudade
10. December Down
11. For All we Know
12. We´re In Love
13. Funkallero
14. Toyland
Randy Sandke - Trumpet, flugelhorn
Howard Alden - Guitar
Nicki Parrott - Bass, vocals
John Riley - Drums
Having heard Randy Sandke
at several Swinging Jazz Parties in Blackpool,
I know he is an exceptional trumpeter with
an unerring technique. He seems capable of
playing anything, as he shows at the very
start of this CD with a speedy Just One
of Those Things, where he launches straight
into a solo without stating the melody (except
in the middle eight). Howard Alden sounds
slightly uncomfortable with the fast tempo,
but drummer John Riley readily swaps dextrous
eights and fours with Sandke.
Nicki Parrott is a first-class
bassist who keeps the rhythm flowing. She
is also an able singer and contributes several
vocals to the album, although Ev'ry Time
We Say Goodbye is not the best choice,
since any singer would be hard pushed to match
Ella Fitzgerald's classic interpretation.
Nicki is happier singing For All We Know,
where her gentle style fits the tranquil ballad.
Randy Sandke wrote five originals
for the album, of which Meta Blue has
an agreeable solo from Howard Alden. The following
New Orleans demonstrates Randy's awareness
of jazz tradition. Nicki contributes a bass
solo as well as a nice vocal, with Sandke's
obbligato accompanying her rather in Louis
Armstrong mode. His trumpet solo also has
an Armstrong feel to it.
Some of Randy's originals
use his special "metatonal" approach, which
I found indigestible when I heard a whole
album of such pieces that he recorded a while
ago. But they are more acceptable when interleaved
with more conventional items, as they are
here. Nicki's Journey (referring to
Nicki Parrott's emigration to the USA from
Australia in 1994) has a dislocated rhythmic
sense and the solos take a similarly wayward
path. Nicki sings wordlessly along with her
bass solo, not quite like Slam Stewart. Little
B (dedicated to Randy's young son Bix)
is another metatonal number, with Sandke playing
the flugelhorn.
Howard Alden subtly introduces
and plays the theme of Django's Dream,
adapted by Randy Sandke from Debussy's Reverie
(which was also adapted in 1938 as the popular
song My Reverie). Nicki Parrott sings
the words, which Randy wrote ages ago when
he was trying to play the guitar like Django
Reinhardt.
Chega de Saudade bustles
along cheerfully - an appropriate nod to Dizzy
Gillespie, whose recording of the tune inspired
Sandke. You can hear hints of Dizzy's style
in Randy's solo. December Down sounds
reminiscent of Lionel Hampton's Midnight
Sun. It is another of Randy's compositions
which play harmonic tricks on the listener.
Bill Evans's Funkallero is given a
Latin-American beat, and the CD closes with
Sandke and Alden duetting on Victor Herbert's
Toyland.
As I write this review, I
should be in Blackpool seeing Randy Sandke,
Nicki Parrott and others at the Jazz Party,
but it has regrettably been cancelled for
lack of support. With good recording quality
and useful sleeve-notes by Ed Berger, this
album provides timely compensation for my
disappointment.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Arbors
Jazz ARCD 19365
