1. You Dig It
2. Alone Together
3. But Beautiful
4. Invitation
5. Autumn Leaves
6. Pape Satan Aleppe
7. Free Wheel
8. Dia Blue
9. Miriam Doll
10. A Ball for Othello
11. La Campimania
Dusko Goykovic - Trumpet
Raymond Droz - Alto horn
Chris Kellens - Baritone horn
Derek Humble - Alto sax
Karl Drevo - Tenor sax
Francy Boland - Piano
Jimmy Woode - Bass
Kenny Clarke - Drums
Fats Sadi - Percussion (tracks 4, 8)
Before the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band, there was the Golden Eight, an octet assembled by promoter Gigi Campi. They recorded this album (now released for the first time) in May 1961, before the first recording by the Big Band. Francy Boland was already an experienced arranger, having worked in the USA for such people as Count Basie, Woody Herman and Dizzy Gillespie, and this album illustrates his talents as composer, arranger and pianist. In fact Francy wrote seven of the eleven tracks.
The octet has the unusual feature of including an alto horn and a baritone horn - instruments seldom heard in jazz. They sound rather like trombones and they add weight to the octet's performances, making the group resemble a big band The personnel of the octet was - like the Big Band - international, with Kenny Clarke and Jimmy Woode from the USA, Derek Humble from Britain, Dusko Goykovic from Yugoslavia, Francy Boland and Chris Kellens from Belgium, Raymond Droz from Switzerland, and Karl Drevo from Austria. Belgian vibist Fats Sadi is added on percussion for a couple of tracks.
The low horns make their presence felt right from the start with a ground-floor introduction to a Francy Boland blues called You Dig It, which shows Francy's economical but efficacious style of arranging, leaving the soloists free to express themselves with only occasional punctuation from the rest of the ensemble. The tune ends as it began, with those low horns making a definite closure.
The horns are also featured in Alone Together, with the alto horn playing the melody. Among the soloists, Britain's Derek Humble shines with his clear-cut tone. Karl Drevo's tenor sax interprets But Beautiful with poignancy, and the mood is sustained in Dusko Goykovitch's muted trumpet solo. Bronislau Kaper's Invitation adds Fats Sadi's percussion to provide the beguine rhythm, which subsides while Dusko speeds through a double-tempo solo and Derek Humble's alto speaks out loud and clear.
Jimmy Woode's double bass states the melody of Autumn Leaves, putting the spotlight on one member of the driving rhythm section which propels this band with such definition. Boland's up-tempo Pape Santa Aleppe features Chris Kellens on baritone horn and Francy himself proving his pianistic abilities as well as his compositional skills. The piano is also at the fore in Free Wheel, where Derek Humble supplies a sparky solo.
Dia Blue begins darkly but livens up into a Latin-American bustle, with Sadi a bit too eager on the bongoes. Miriam Doll is by the rhythm section, showing off Boland's sparkling piano style. A Ball for Othello sounds rather like film music for a chase sequence, with Drevo and Goykovic in a bit of a hurry, and Kenny Clarke getting a chance for a long drum solo. The CD signs off with barely a minute of Francy's La Campimania, a tribute to the man who put the band together.
This album is interesting historically as s precursor to the better-known Clarke/Boland Big Band but it also stands on its own feet as a noteworthy set displaying the octet's somewhat more restrained but still swinging mood, enlivened by some first-rate solos and Francy Boland's sagacious arrangements.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Rearward RW 129 CD
